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| I waited with Hammy at her house for someone to bring her a bed, only to find out that they weren't coming. BUT, she found a huge block of ice in her freezer. The only logical thing to do when you're bored in a house with nothing in it and you have a block of ice: make ice sculptures. I made Utah, but then I got bored again and put the knife through it. The End.
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| Home is delicious. And I am enjoying it's flavor as we speak. Or as I type.
love bud.
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| when i went to london a week or two ago, we went to see the spiderman 3 premier. (we couldnt see the movie obviously, but we went to see the stars all gather and what-not). so we got to see all the stars, and the girls (katie buckel, laura brokaw, and melanie shaffer) got to shake tobey maguire's hand, and got close up pictures of kirsten dunst, james franco, and topher grace. it was fun.
before the premier, we went to westminster abbey, and i saw a band walking around (it was obvious by the way they were dressed, plus they had band tour passes all hanging on their keychains on their pants, like a touring band would) and later went online to find out who it was. i found out that i believe it was bayside. even though i dont really listen to them, that was cool.
then we went down to trafalgar and noticed that they were watching a movie on a huge theater-sized screen. guess what it was... Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They were watching it for King Edward the something-th's day. so we got to watch monty python with about a thousand other people in a town square of london. pretty sweet.
the end.
love bud.
p.s. i come home in like 5 or 6 days.
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| Well, I'm going to keep this fairly short I think because I have class in the morning.
Last weekend, Kaleigh, Leslie and I went to south France. We had a 4-day break, but waited to leave until Thursday because it was a cheaper flight and couldn't have made it in time to catch the Wednesday flight, because there was only one flight per day going to Toulon. So it was nice having an extra day to relax and get ready.
So Thursday, we leave to catch a 630AM bus going to Stansted airport. Spend around 3 or 4 hours on the bus, and arrive at the airport. We catch our early afternoon flight into Toulon, France. When we arrive at the small one room airport, we have to figure out where to go next. Since there weren't any other flights arriving for the day, it was a fairly empty airport. So we go look at the bus schedule to see when it will be arriving to take us into Toulon, since the actual city is around 20 miles away from the airport. So after using my past knowledge of French, I figure out that we missed the only bus for the next like 2 or 3 hours. So we catch a taxi and have them take us to the bus station (which I didn't know the that is what Gare Routier meant). The problem, is that now we were in the small town of Hyeres, which is still far away from Toulon, so I have to try to talk to a guy and get us to the train station (which is also called a Gare, which confused me) in Toulon. So he directs us to a bus, we get on and get to Toulon, buy train tickets and catch the train to Nice. Not too bad yet, but encountering a lot of people who don't know enough English to communicate, and I can't remember enough French to really talk to them either.
Well, we get into Nice a little late, and spend our evening in the hostel's (Villa Saint Exupery) commons room/bar/restaurant/party locale/free computer lab/anything else it was used for. They really did a good job with that place. It was a very clean place, the people were nice, they provided so many amenities, free rides to and from a major bus stop, and they had great facilities. Their bar restaurant hang out place was really well done. There were at least 40 people in there every single night. They had cheap drinks, free computers with internet, cheap dinner and dessert, couches, and many other cool things. They played cool music too to make it more like a hang out.
The next day, we walked around Nice and were planning to go to Cannes and Antibes, but for some reason, Leslie waited to get money from an ATM until then. Well, there was a slight problem in that Visa had decided to shut down all over southern Europe for the entire day. No money = no train to Cannes. We spent the day walking around Nice until it started sprinkling rain and then we went back to the Villa. It cleared up so we went back around and enjoyed our time in the city. The beach was rocky and not really anything special, but they had a road following along the coast, and there was a small inlet that went under the road, creating a bridge, and it continued on underneath the city into the darkness. I really wanted to take an industrial sized flashlight and a canoe and work my way up the river-like body of water into the darkness under the streets of Nice. How amazing would that be?
The next day, we had to cram everything into one day, which wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be the previous day, but was still stupid to try and do everything. We started off by going to Cannes, and spent like 4 or 5 hours there, eating a big chunk out of our day, and Leslie had planned to go to 4 more places after that. Well, after going to a museum that was thought to be the one with the Man with the Iron Mask prison cell, which it was not, we found out that the museum was out on an island off the coast of Cannes. There was no way we were going to get out there without wasting the rest of the afternoon, so we decided to not try to go there, which I was glad, because the museum we did go to sucked. It was so boring, but at least it was free. Leslie wanted to go to Antibes because it was supposed to have nice beaches, but in Cannes we spent some time on the beach there and it was very enjoyable so we decided to skip Antibes. We were going to stop in Nice on the way to Monaco to go to the top of a castle because it supposedly had an amazing view of the city, but we didn't have enough time. I don't know why we couldn't do it the day before when we spent our entire day in Nice, but I guess they didn't want to do it in the slight sprinkling of the previous day's weather. So after skipping over Antibes and Nice, we caught a bus to Eze Village which is up in the mountains between Nice and Monaco. It was a nice little place, but we only had an hour before the last bus of the day came through, so all we did was eat at a little cafe and then change clothes, so I kind of thought it was pointless too. We caught the bus to Monaco finally around 6pm. The sole reason I came was finally about to happen.
We get to Monaco and start by walking down to the Casino. They had beautiful parks on the way down there. We walked around a little, just taking it in. Leslie found a poster advertising a tennis tournament being held there, and had to go. So while waiting for the bus to the other side of Monte Carlo, I walked around those gardens. They were so amazing, very well taken care of and full of life. In the small 3000 square foot garden in the middle of the city, there was a duck with around 8 ducklings just swimming in the tiny little pond with Mercedes Benz's and Bentleys driving not 20 feet away from them. Simply beautiful. So we get to the edge of town where there is very little activity, and after walking up the large hill, find out that the matches of the day were over (of course since it was like 8pm) so we decide to walk back the way the bus brought us. I enjoyed that time the most, just walking along the road in Monte Carlo back towards the casinos and port. We cut across through a tunnel to the port and walk alongside all the huge yachts and along the port docks. By this time it is around 9 and getting dark, and we don't even know how we supposed to get back to Nice, let alone even know where the train station is in Monaco. Well, on the bus map at one of the stops, there are 3 different "Gare" stations listed, and none of them say "Gare SNCF" which is the train, so we're not really sure. The first one we find was nothing more than just a stop. The second one was the winner, but it took a few minutes and aimless wandering to find it. But we finally do find it by way of signs. Of course because Monte Carlo is so small there isn't enough room for an entire station, so they put both train and bus stations together... underground. So we go there, and it is not populated really at all except the people waiting to get on the bus. We receive little help from the 2 men working there, but realize that the bus is about to leave for Nice, and we have to buy our tickets from the machine before it leaves us. Well the machine doesn't take paper money, it doesn't accept magnetic strip credit cards (only the new electronic chip ones that are now common in Europe) and we barely have enough change to buy our tickets. The bus driver doesn't sell the tickets either, so the only solution was to use the machines that we thought we didn't have enough change for. So luckily God was watching out for us and gave us the right amount of change to get back to the Villa. We just chill that night to rest up. Play some cards in the room, get a drink from downstairs, and Leslie and I talked for an hour or so downstairs in the bar/restaurant thing. It was a very lovely evening back at the Villa.
We have to get up the next morning to catch the city bus (that we missed due to some car shuffling that went on, which meant that the van that they shuttled us in had to wait until they were free to leave the driveway), then we had to walk down to the train station to try and catch our train that we already had tickets for (which we missed by about 5 minutes), then we had to switch out our tickets and catch the next train which was only 20 minutes later. Well that train was delayed by about 30 minutes, so it was an hour from our initial departure time of around 9am. Why couldn't the one we missed be delayed? That would have been nice. Well we finally get on the train around 10, and get into Toulon around 11:40 or so and have to catch the bus into either Hyeres or straight to the airport. Well because it was Sunday, the buses were only running about every two hours, and we were about to wait for the one that took us straight to the airport, but I realized that we would have to wait like an hour, and we would be cutting it close to catch our flight, so we catch the bus (by like a window of 5 minutes) that takes us back to the Hyeres bus station. Luckily we chose that, because the next bus like that one wouldn't have got us there in time either, so if we hadn't gotten on that bus, we might have not made our flight by any means, no matter what we did to try. So the bus gets there, and realize that there are no taxis in the corral there. I kept forgetting that it was Sunday and everything is running slower or not at all. So I try to get the lady in the bus station to call us a taxi (after I unsuccessfully tried) but all she said was "when they're free, they'll come." so I explain that we have a time window and there was a sign saying that you could call if you needed one but she refused. So we decided to wait until a taxi came or the bus that would take us to the airport came, which could have possibly gotten us there in time, but I didn't want to take that risk. Again, God brought us a taxi (the only one in like an hour that we were there). So we get in and the very nice driver takes us there and we catch our flight just fine. We get back to England finally around 430pm, after our plane was delayed by like 30 minutes. Then we have to wait like 2 hours in the terminal because the next bus doesn't leave until like 630pm. We hang around inside, eating and walking around the shops until around 615 or so. We go outside to catch our bus only to find it delayed about 20 minutes also. What is with all the delays today? We get back to the houses finally around 11pm or so. I can't really remember what time it was, but sort of late.
Not a bad trip, but I just have to say this: vacation isn't about seeing everything you can. It is about relaxing and spending your time in just a place or two, seeing what there is to see and doing what there is to do. Nice and Monte Carlo would have been nice if those were the only places we went. But rushing around and planning everything in the area to be done in one day was insane. Luckily we couldn't fit it all in, because I would have gone crazy. I would have been really upset if we missed out on Monaco because that is the only real reason I went. Moral of the story: do not plan a bunch of sightseeing stuff when you travel. Take it easy and just enjoy the time you have to relax. Because I didn't get to spend as much time in Monte Carlo as I would have liked, it is now my mission to go back before I die.
This past Thursday, I went to London to see These Arms Are Snakes and Pelican at the Carling Islington Academy. I didn't stay to see Pelican, because I was tired and had to catch a train, but T.A.A.S. was one of the most amazing bands live that I've ever seen. The bassist is now one of my biggest influences because of all the variety he brings to his music. The singer was just nuts, and he made the show so much fun. Their music is so different yet so beautiful that I see them so differently after that show. In a good way. I don't think I can listen to them at all without remembering how amazing that night was. Before the show, I had some time to walk around London, so I went to Marble Arch, walked around in Hyde Park and just layed there for like an hour or so, just enjoying the beautiful weather. Then I left and walked around until I found Herrod's. I walked around there for a while, found the musical instruments section and got excited about coming home to play bass. Left and went to the area that the show was in. It was kind of in this outdoors mall area, and I really enjoyed it. I sat in Borders for a while and HMV and just looked at cds and magazines. Then I went to the show and then came back home. I got back around 1am. A great day to myself full of beautiful weather, great music on my iPod, an amazing live show, and time to just enjoy being away from stress of school and people here. If DragonForce, These Arms Are Snakes, and Rage Against the Machine played a live show together, there would be no need for heaven, for I would have already found it. Or maybe that will be heaven for me if God lets us interpret heaven based on our life here. I've seen two of those bands live, and I heard that Rage reformed to play Cochella music fest and might start a world tour again, so maybe I'll actually be able to see them play live. That would be the last band I have to see live. Well, maybe Muse fits in that category too, I'm not sure.
Anyways, I have class, so I'm going to bed. Night.
love bud.
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| I just had a bee stuck in my hair. A bee. It was the most frightening event of my life. Well, at least I think it was a bee... It is hard to see it when you're squealing and running away. Luckily, it was able to free itself from my golden locks and not resort to a violent departure. That would not have made for a good day.
Ok, so I didn't really squeal or run away. But it was still scary.
love bud.
P.S. I'll write about my trip to Nice France and Monte Carlo Monaco later on this week.
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