What do you get when you get two "Type A" personalities together for sightseeing in London.....insanity!
My friend Sandra arrived just 4 days ago and we have proceeded to try to do EVERYTHING in and around London. We have packed in 4 10-hour days of sightseeing. There is simply too much to blog about right now, so I am just going to list our crazy schedule.
Friday
-Ate a bagel at the famous "Beigel Shop" (est. 1855)
-Took a double decker bus through the city
-Walked through Trafalgar Square
-Walked by Downing Street
-Saw Parliament/Big Ben/London Eye
-Ate lunch outside Westminster Abbey
-Walked through St. James Park
-Saw Buckingham Palace
-Walked through Green Park
-Walked through Covent Garden
-Sat at a pub for about 2 hours
-Ate dinner at a Mexican (not) restaurant
Saturday
-Took the subway to Waterloo Station
-Took the train outside of London
-Visited the Hampton Court Palace for the day
-Visited the Tudor Kitchens
-Took a tour of the William & Mary Rooms
-Had lunch in the garden cafe
-Took an 1 hour tour of the Hampton gardens
-Saw the oldest vine in the world
-Took the train back to London
-Meet up with friends for pints!
-Ate pizza for dinner at a local restaurant
Sunday
-Took a boat ride up the River Thames to Greenwich
-Took a 2 hour walking tour of Greenwich
-Ate French food
-Visited the Royal Observatory
-Saw the ball drop at 1 pm on the Royal Observatory
-Stood in 2 Hemispheres
-Visited the Maritime Museum
-Visited the old Naval College
-Walked through the Greenwich market
-Walked UNDER the River Thames
-Ate Indian food for dinner
Monday
-Visited the Tower of London
-Saw the Crown jewels
-Took an 1 hour walking tour with a Yeoman
-Walked around and say the place where Queens were killed!
-Went to a Japanese restaurant
-Visited a pub (we like to drink)
-Stopped for gelato
-Went window shopping in the trendiest place in town
-Tried on huge hats in one of the department stores
We plan on going to the Globe Theater tomorrow and finish the day with a London play. On Wednesday, we end Sandra's visit with a tour of Parliament.
I will blog again when I recover from the trip! :)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
We Don't Have Pastures In London!
Yesterday, I decided I wanted to see some horses so I visited the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. It is the Queen's stable and has been in existence since 1760. The Mews are located just behind Buckingham Palace. Here is a picture of the court yard.
The Mews houses all the royal carriages. There are about 7 of them on display and they are used for royal and State events, weddings, and when Parliament is opened. Here is the Australian carriage which is the newest carriage in the bunch.
The Mews also house all the state vehicles. Here is one of the Queen's limousines.
Another carriage.
Besides the carriages, the tour you go on also shows you the stables. There are 30 royal horses and the Queen has named each one. Below, you can see Sydney. The horses are usually named after places or events the Queen has participated in. I thought it was funny because the whole time I was thinking, "Mom, when was the last time you saw tile in a stall?"
Unfortunately, I saw very few horses on the tour. Actually, only 4 and they were kept far away from the public. Here is my attempt at taking a photo in the air from far away. I asked one of the many tour guides standing around about the horses. I asked if they were kept in the stables year round or if they were put out to pasture (the place was very small to keep a horse full time). The guide was very snotty and said "We don't have pastures in London!" Gee, thanks.
We also saw the harness room which was behind glass. You can see my reflection.
The best carriage by far was the Gold State Coach used for coronations. It actually weights 4 tons. Because of its weight, the coach is driven by 8 horses and has to be stopped 30 feet before its point of stopping. The tour also said that it takes about 2 days to get the coach out of the building! They have to remove one of the walls. Good thing they don't have very many coronations!
While there were some neat things on the tour, I was rather disappointed because the tour only lasted about 45 minutes and I did not really get to see any horses. After I left, I saw 2 police officers in the streets of London and laughed. And Mom, they were riding English!
The Mews houses all the royal carriages. There are about 7 of them on display and they are used for royal and State events, weddings, and when Parliament is opened. Here is the Australian carriage which is the newest carriage in the bunch.
The Mews also house all the state vehicles. Here is one of the Queen's limousines.
Another carriage.
Besides the carriages, the tour you go on also shows you the stables. There are 30 royal horses and the Queen has named each one. Below, you can see Sydney. The horses are usually named after places or events the Queen has participated in. I thought it was funny because the whole time I was thinking, "Mom, when was the last time you saw tile in a stall?"
Unfortunately, I saw very few horses on the tour. Actually, only 4 and they were kept far away from the public. Here is my attempt at taking a photo in the air from far away. I asked one of the many tour guides standing around about the horses. I asked if they were kept in the stables year round or if they were put out to pasture (the place was very small to keep a horse full time). The guide was very snotty and said "We don't have pastures in London!" Gee, thanks.
We also saw the harness room which was behind glass. You can see my reflection.
The best carriage by far was the Gold State Coach used for coronations. It actually weights 4 tons. Because of its weight, the coach is driven by 8 horses and has to be stopped 30 feet before its point of stopping. The tour also said that it takes about 2 days to get the coach out of the building! They have to remove one of the walls. Good thing they don't have very many coronations!
While there were some neat things on the tour, I was rather disappointed because the tour only lasted about 45 minutes and I did not really get to see any horses. After I left, I saw 2 police officers in the streets of London and laughed. And Mom, they were riding English!
Monday, July 14, 2008
If Only My Neighborhood Could Talk
This weekend, I had another interesting adventure with my friend Jess. We decided to visit the Museum in Docklands, which had a special exhibit on Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, I have no photos of the adventure (since they would not let me take any pictures....and would you really want to see them anyways?), but I will tell you a little bit about it.
Being in London, there are always advertisements for walking tours for Jack the Ripper. You could say Londoners are a little obsessed with their history. This exhibit was rather fascinating because it told you about the neighborhood that the 11 killings occurred in. And guess what...they all occurred in my neighborhood! This was the shock of the day.
See this link (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2074500). It shows my flat on Old Nichol Street and the point of the second murder of Jack the Ripper. I have walked by this murder point a number of times as the area is now filled with shops and the crime location now has a brewery on it.
Knowing these horrific crimes happened in my neighborhood over 130 years ago, brought a new perspective on things. The exhibit talked about my area of town as being one of the poorest in London. 95 percent of the women living in the area used prostitution to get enough money for food and lodging. Hence, easy targets for Jack the Ripper.
What was most interesting about the exhibit was the artifacts. The exhibit walked you through each crime committed by Jack the Ripper and showed you the actually handwritten police reports. It was amazing to see the documents. It also had the first letter written to a newspaper where the person first used the name "Jack the Ripper." By reading the documents, you could see what little information the police had to go on. The exhibit also gave you a perspective on the suspects over time. One suspect was just identified in 2007! Many more will probably be identified as researchers will continue to ponder the biggest unsolved serial killer case in history.
Being in London, there are always advertisements for walking tours for Jack the Ripper. You could say Londoners are a little obsessed with their history. This exhibit was rather fascinating because it told you about the neighborhood that the 11 killings occurred in. And guess what...they all occurred in my neighborhood! This was the shock of the day.
See this link (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2074500). It shows my flat on Old Nichol Street and the point of the second murder of Jack the Ripper. I have walked by this murder point a number of times as the area is now filled with shops and the crime location now has a brewery on it.
Knowing these horrific crimes happened in my neighborhood over 130 years ago, brought a new perspective on things. The exhibit talked about my area of town as being one of the poorest in London. 95 percent of the women living in the area used prostitution to get enough money for food and lodging. Hence, easy targets for Jack the Ripper.
What was most interesting about the exhibit was the artifacts. The exhibit walked you through each crime committed by Jack the Ripper and showed you the actually handwritten police reports. It was amazing to see the documents. It also had the first letter written to a newspaper where the person first used the name "Jack the Ripper." By reading the documents, you could see what little information the police had to go on. The exhibit also gave you a perspective on the suspects over time. One suspect was just identified in 2007! Many more will probably be identified as researchers will continue to ponder the biggest unsolved serial killer case in history.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Already Driving!
On Tuesday, I spent the day at Heathrow airport. Keena and Grigo were flying back through London after spending most of the summer in Romania. They had a 5 hour layover so they needed some entertainment for the day.
When I found them in the airport, Rica was driving! It is amazing how much she has grown up. She particularly liked this game.
We had lunch in the airport pub. Rica was excited about her squeeze juice bottle that came with her kids meal.
During lunch, Grigo provided Rica much entertainment.
Rica has started liking anything that is bright and shiny. She loves trolleys.
Here is Keena trying to stay awake before getting on the plane.
Overall, it was a very nice short visit. It has been very nice having family come through town twice. In about 2 weeks, my friend Sandra will be coming for 6 days. We are going to have so much fun.
When I found them in the airport, Rica was driving! It is amazing how much she has grown up. She particularly liked this game.
We had lunch in the airport pub. Rica was excited about her squeeze juice bottle that came with her kids meal.
During lunch, Grigo provided Rica much entertainment.
Rica has started liking anything that is bright and shiny. She loves trolleys.
Here is Keena trying to stay awake before getting on the plane.
Overall, it was a very nice short visit. It has been very nice having family come through town twice. In about 2 weeks, my friend Sandra will be coming for 6 days. We are going to have so much fun.
Monday, July 7, 2008
A Day With The Dead
I was reading in one of the local area magazines that there are many things to do in the city for under 10 pounds. One of the suggestions was to visit one of the "magnificent seven" cemeteries. In the 1830's, there was overcrowding issues because people were only being buried in local churchyards. As the city population increased, there was a need for more places to bury people. Parliament passed a law allowing private cemeteries to be built, of which 7 were constructed on the outskirts of London. Unfortunately, since they were private, they also had issues with neglect.
My roommate and I decided to visit Highgate, since it has many famous people buried in it. We waited in line for a guided tour which my roommate had heard was fantastic. As we started our tour, it was surprising to see how neglected the place was.
This particular cemetery has over 190,000 people buried in it and is divided into two different cemeteries (east and west). A local non-profit bought the cemetery (so weird you can buy a cemetery) in the 1980's and has been trying to restore it. We spent our walking tour in the east cemetery which has had very little work done to it. Below, a tree completely takes over a tombstone.
While the cemetery is not that old, it looks much older then it is because of the London pollution. Many of the markers no longer have any writing because the acid rain has eroded everything away.
The worse thing about the tour was our tour guide. We apparently did not get the good one! We had an American woman who did not tell us much and did not point out any famous people to us. It was rather disappointing.
After spending 5 pounds for the pretty bad tour, we decided to go to the west cemetery (had to pay another 3 pounds) to see if we could find any famous people. Of course, it you wanted to find any of the famous people, you had to buy a guide. At this point my roommate and I were totally disappointed in the money we spent and decided we were too cheap to buy the guide. So we asked some people where to go.
The cemetery has such famous people as Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy) and Karl Marx. Probably one of the more surprising things to see was the grave of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy guy who was poisoned in London recently. The cemetery is still in use which was surprising since it is so in need of repair and help.
As my roommate is German, we both wanted to find Karl Marx. Thus, we found him (as he was not hard to miss).
While the tour sucked, at least the weather was nice!
My roommate and I decided to visit Highgate, since it has many famous people buried in it. We waited in line for a guided tour which my roommate had heard was fantastic. As we started our tour, it was surprising to see how neglected the place was.
This particular cemetery has over 190,000 people buried in it and is divided into two different cemeteries (east and west). A local non-profit bought the cemetery (so weird you can buy a cemetery) in the 1980's and has been trying to restore it. We spent our walking tour in the east cemetery which has had very little work done to it. Below, a tree completely takes over a tombstone.
While the cemetery is not that old, it looks much older then it is because of the London pollution. Many of the markers no longer have any writing because the acid rain has eroded everything away.
The worse thing about the tour was our tour guide. We apparently did not get the good one! We had an American woman who did not tell us much and did not point out any famous people to us. It was rather disappointing.After spending 5 pounds for the pretty bad tour, we decided to go to the west cemetery (had to pay another 3 pounds) to see if we could find any famous people. Of course, it you wanted to find any of the famous people, you had to buy a guide. At this point my roommate and I were totally disappointed in the money we spent and decided we were too cheap to buy the guide. So we asked some people where to go.
The cemetery has such famous people as Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy) and Karl Marx. Probably one of the more surprising things to see was the grave of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy guy who was poisoned in London recently. The cemetery is still in use which was surprising since it is so in need of repair and help.
As my roommate is German, we both wanted to find Karl Marx. Thus, we found him (as he was not hard to miss).
While the tour sucked, at least the weather was nice!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
4th of July in the Motherland
Yesterday I decided to relax a bit and explore some of London for the 4th of July. Since being here, I constantly think of how "young" the US is, or as Keena's friend would say "your country is in diapers!"
This was very apparent yesterday as I visited Borough Market for the first time. The market has survived on the banks of the Thames river for.....get this.......20 centuries! Take that America. It has been at its current site for 250 years.
The market is extremely upper scale these days selling cheeses, olives, seafood, cuts of meat, etc.
Cheese roll anyone? These things were massive, being about a foot high each.
I spent most of my time looking for fresh produce. Here is a sea of lettuce.
The place is extremely touristy. Besides there being fresh food to buy, many of the vendors are also selling burgers and sausages, making the place extremely busy as people are standing everywhere in lines.
Here is a beautiful table of mushrooms. Many of which, I had never seen.
There is also lots of chocolate and truffles to buy. Here is a table of truffles in every type of flavor.
In the end, I purchased lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, and last but not least, some watermelon. It would not be the 4th of July without watermelon. When I get a job, I will definitely go back and buy some of the fun stuff.
This was very apparent yesterday as I visited Borough Market for the first time. The market has survived on the banks of the Thames river for.....get this.......20 centuries! Take that America. It has been at its current site for 250 years.
The market is extremely upper scale these days selling cheeses, olives, seafood, cuts of meat, etc.
Cheese roll anyone? These things were massive, being about a foot high each.
I spent most of my time looking for fresh produce. Here is a sea of lettuce.
The place is extremely touristy. Besides there being fresh food to buy, many of the vendors are also selling burgers and sausages, making the place extremely busy as people are standing everywhere in lines.
Here is a beautiful table of mushrooms. Many of which, I had never seen.
There is also lots of chocolate and truffles to buy. Here is a table of truffles in every type of flavor.
In the end, I purchased lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, and last but not least, some watermelon. It would not be the 4th of July without watermelon. When I get a job, I will definitely go back and buy some of the fun stuff.Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Auditing Rats!
My job search is going well and I am learning a lot about the UK market. Here, everything is done through recruitment agencies. I spend about 6 hours a day looking for and applying for jobs. It has become a job in itself. There are hundreds of recruiting agencies that specialize in everything from cooks to accountants.
Usually you apply for a job through their website and they do the first screening before it heads to the organization you are applying to. I have applied to about 25 jobs to date and I have been called by 5 different recruiting agencies. The recruiting agencies have different counselors who manage jobs and try to match you up with something. It is free for me, but if the agency connects me to a job, the organization pays the agency. So it is in their best interest to find me employed.
I have personally visited 3 of the agencies that called me. What I have discovered is that their websites are not up to date. Thus, I have been applying for closed jobs! When I asked if I should be searching their website daily to see if there are any jobs I am interested in, the agencies have laughed and said "no." How do these people plan on getting you a job?
I have also learned they tell me different things. I have spoken to a agency that represents consultant firms. I was told I should decrease my salary request by $15,000 because I was American and had no consultant experience. While another agency told me yesterday that I could ask for more then my US salary because I was highly qualified and a great candidate. Daily..........I am left confused.
There also seems to be a ton of contract work here in the UK. I am trying to get more up to speed on this. It seems to keep down the cost for most of the public sector organizations, they use contract work for short and long term projects. Basically, I would be considered self-employed and not get any paid holidays. I can't figure out the cost benefit of this since I would not get any "benefits" and the benefits vary greatly here. On the plus side, contract work tends to pay more.
Agencies do different things, but many of them allow organizations to search their database to look for candidates they want to interview. Yesterday, I was contacted by one of the agencies asking if I would interview with a local city council for a job. I was totally excited as I would like to work for a local government. I was sent a job description that I have the skills for. It is a performance review position and my title would be Environmental Health Officer. I was even more excited because it was in the environmental field........or so I thought.
Turns out, the local governments classify human health services as "environmental" health here. Thus, I would be reviewing their infectious disease program, food safety at restaurants (food poisoning cases), and last but not least......rat and pest control!
Do I want to audit rats? I had to think about this for a few hours. I am one of those people who believes go to the interview, get the job offer, and then decide if you want to take the job or not. But in this case, while I would love to work for a local council..........would I really be happy auditing pest control? The more I thought about it......I am not that desperate yet! The job would have been for a 3 month contract and the pay was not as high as I liked. Thus, I am turning down the interview.
Let's hope I can find something better then rats!
Usually you apply for a job through their website and they do the first screening before it heads to the organization you are applying to. I have applied to about 25 jobs to date and I have been called by 5 different recruiting agencies. The recruiting agencies have different counselors who manage jobs and try to match you up with something. It is free for me, but if the agency connects me to a job, the organization pays the agency. So it is in their best interest to find me employed.
I have personally visited 3 of the agencies that called me. What I have discovered is that their websites are not up to date. Thus, I have been applying for closed jobs! When I asked if I should be searching their website daily to see if there are any jobs I am interested in, the agencies have laughed and said "no." How do these people plan on getting you a job?
I have also learned they tell me different things. I have spoken to a agency that represents consultant firms. I was told I should decrease my salary request by $15,000 because I was American and had no consultant experience. While another agency told me yesterday that I could ask for more then my US salary because I was highly qualified and a great candidate. Daily..........I am left confused.
There also seems to be a ton of contract work here in the UK. I am trying to get more up to speed on this. It seems to keep down the cost for most of the public sector organizations, they use contract work for short and long term projects. Basically, I would be considered self-employed and not get any paid holidays. I can't figure out the cost benefit of this since I would not get any "benefits" and the benefits vary greatly here. On the plus side, contract work tends to pay more.
Agencies do different things, but many of them allow organizations to search their database to look for candidates they want to interview. Yesterday, I was contacted by one of the agencies asking if I would interview with a local city council for a job. I was totally excited as I would like to work for a local government. I was sent a job description that I have the skills for. It is a performance review position and my title would be Environmental Health Officer. I was even more excited because it was in the environmental field........or so I thought.
Turns out, the local governments classify human health services as "environmental" health here. Thus, I would be reviewing their infectious disease program, food safety at restaurants (food poisoning cases), and last but not least......rat and pest control!
Do I want to audit rats? I had to think about this for a few hours. I am one of those people who believes go to the interview, get the job offer, and then decide if you want to take the job or not. But in this case, while I would love to work for a local council..........would I really be happy auditing pest control? The more I thought about it......I am not that desperate yet! The job would have been for a 3 month contract and the pay was not as high as I liked. Thus, I am turning down the interview.
Let's hope I can find something better then rats!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Moving Up in the World!
I have gained new status in the United Kingdom today.......I opened my first bank account!
While this seems like such an easy task in the United States, it is one of the most difficult things to get when you have no proof of residency in the UK.
It is a bit of a catch-22. People will not rent an apartment to you without a bank statement from a UK bank account saying you have enough money and a bank will not open an account for you unless you have proof of residence in the UK. This was part of my difficultly when trying to find a place to live. No one would sign a lease with me because I did not have a UK bank account. I also could not get a cell phone service plan because I don't have an account. Also, I have had problems using my debit/credit cards here because our cards require a signature. In the UK, you use a pin number for everything and don't sign anything.
I did some investigation and found of the 20+ documents that I needed to show residency (council tax bill, water bill, etc.), I could only get one document that would work. I had to have my US bank send me my bank statement to my "new" UK address.
After waiting about 6 weeks, I finally got my bank statement yesterday so I headed to the bank. After 1 1/2 hours (yes, that long), I now have an account. But I learned some very interesting things along the way.
"Ms." vs "Miss" - I have been reading some of the community blogs and everyone is saying something different. There is debate by American women here on what term to use. The young man at the bank today said that Miss is for someone who is not married. "Ms." is for someone who is married and has kept their maiden name, a woman who is living with a partner but not married, or a widow. I guess I am "Miss"!
No one writes checks here. Everything is done online - from paying your landlord to getting your salary deposited. When I asked the man if I could get checks he laughed and said "only old people write checks in England."
Overdraft is crazy here. My friend Aman once told me about this, but I did not really understand. It was explained to me today. My bank account allows me to carry up to a -$600 balance without paying any penalties! This is crazy. Why would a bank let me carry a negative balance and not charge for it? I am not going to complain! :)
Now comes the challenge of trying to transfer money......
While this seems like such an easy task in the United States, it is one of the most difficult things to get when you have no proof of residency in the UK.
It is a bit of a catch-22. People will not rent an apartment to you without a bank statement from a UK bank account saying you have enough money and a bank will not open an account for you unless you have proof of residence in the UK. This was part of my difficultly when trying to find a place to live. No one would sign a lease with me because I did not have a UK bank account. I also could not get a cell phone service plan because I don't have an account. Also, I have had problems using my debit/credit cards here because our cards require a signature. In the UK, you use a pin number for everything and don't sign anything.
I did some investigation and found of the 20+ documents that I needed to show residency (council tax bill, water bill, etc.), I could only get one document that would work. I had to have my US bank send me my bank statement to my "new" UK address.
After waiting about 6 weeks, I finally got my bank statement yesterday so I headed to the bank. After 1 1/2 hours (yes, that long), I now have an account. But I learned some very interesting things along the way.
"Ms." vs "Miss" - I have been reading some of the community blogs and everyone is saying something different. There is debate by American women here on what term to use. The young man at the bank today said that Miss is for someone who is not married. "Ms." is for someone who is married and has kept their maiden name, a woman who is living with a partner but not married, or a widow. I guess I am "Miss"!
No one writes checks here. Everything is done online - from paying your landlord to getting your salary deposited. When I asked the man if I could get checks he laughed and said "only old people write checks in England."
Overdraft is crazy here. My friend Aman once told me about this, but I did not really understand. It was explained to me today. My bank account allows me to carry up to a -$600 balance without paying any penalties! This is crazy. Why would a bank let me carry a negative balance and not charge for it? I am not going to complain! :)
Now comes the challenge of trying to transfer money......
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