Reflection

The last two and a half weeks have been a bit of a blur. An awesome blur, but there hasn't been a lot of time for processing. I did some today, and I realized something. Like really really realized something.

I am extremely blessed. 

The town I'm staying in right now sits on a strait. The view of the water is beautiful and I walked about 4.5 miles today along the shore. With the sun shining, the wind enthusiastically blowing, I got some time to just think. Also, there was a food truck toward the beginning of my walk which supplied me with a great burger. Thinking is always better when I'm not hungry. 

I'm blessed that I even have this opportunity. I'm in Wales. I took a plane across the ocean to get here (and a train, bus and taxi - I don't discriminate) I have now been to England and Scotland, which is added to a list of various other countries. So many people never even leave their region of the US, let alone go to a foreign country. But I've been granted the opportunity and resources to do just that.

I have an awesome family. I've always loved my fantastic family, but after discussions with various people I've met, there are a lot of families out there that aren't as cool as mine. As in, some families argue that one should be focused on building a career, not gallivanting across the globe, and therefore try to make the traveler feel guilty for wanting to see the world.  My family has always been supportive of my travels, and having that support makes traveling even more enjoyable.

Specifically to this trip, the fact that I didn't have to come here by myself is a HUGE blessing. Not only because I was scared, but because I got to travel with someone that I didn't know very well, which I felt ended up being fantastic because then we always had something to talk about (like, "how many siblings do you have?"). Seriously, it was so fun getting to know her and finding out how completely different our lives are, and still enjoying each other's company. 

All of these things can be easily taken for granted and I don't want to do that. I don't want to get to the point where I lose the wonder of it all, or stop thanking God every day for the life He's given me. Even when I'm not travelling, when I'm not seeing the world, when life is not all that different for me than the person sitting next to me, I want to remain grateful.

Eddie the First and Charles

So guess what! There is a castle in Caernarfon. Shocker, I know. But it's actually pretty interesting BECAUSE it's the place where the princes of Wales are actually made princes. Edward I built it...just in case you were wondering.

I went with one of the girls from the hostel. It was a good time. We got a really good leg workout. Holy spiral staircases, Batman! I just kept trying to imagine climbing the staircases in full armor or carrying a tray of tea. Craziness, I say.

It was a pretty good-sized castle, and almost all the towers were able to be climbed and explored.

After the castle, we strolled around the town for a bit. The weather was great until we saw this heading our way.

Yup, that's a giant cloud. So we said to ourselves, "This looks like a good time to head back." We walked the 50 or so paces back to the hostel and as we reached the room, we heard it. Rain. Lots and lots of rain. For the sake of Wales, I'm glad it didn't rain for very long. Poor people have had a lot of flooding in the last week.

I'm sufficiently tired now. Seriously, though stairs were killer. By the time I got to the top of a couple of towers, I was self-consciously wheezing. Well, not badly wheezing.

I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. If it's nice I may just take a nice stroll along the water.

I'm such a n00b

When it comes to traveling on my own, I'm a noob. I have no idea what I'm doing. Yesterday went a little like this:

We left Stratford upon Avon at 8:10am. Traffic had been disastrous around cities up to this point so we wanted to leave time to get to London Heathrow on time since the car needed to be returned at 11am.

The traffic ended up being great, so we arrived an hour early. This meant that we had an extra hour to sit in the airport.

At 12:50pm we found out that the Picadilly Line of the tube was severely delayed due to a person under the train and some issue with the signals. That was the line that I needed to take (because it's the only underground line from the airport to the center of London) so I go a ticket for the Express Train to London.

I left TC in the airport at 1pm because I wasn't sure how long things were going to take and I needed to be at a different station for my 3:10 train to Bangor, Wales. Surely two hours would be more than enough!

Seriously folks, it was stressful. I don't really know how to describe the crazy of that two hours. Actually, it was 1hr 45min. I eventually got to Euston station at 2:45pm. After asking information to insure I had the right train, I boarded at 3, pretty confident that I was going the right way. Switching at Chester (sorry these places probably don't mean much to most of you), I got on a train that I was not as confident was going the right direction. Eventually I got to Bangor, but the train was running late so I missed the 7pm bus to Caernarfon (we got there at 7, so by the time I walked to the curb it was gone). That meant that I had almost an hour to wait for the next one, hoping that my information was actually correct and the bus would come at all.

If there is one thing I have learned in the last 24hrs, it's to ask questions. I asked a taxi driver, and he informed me there was another one at 8. It was chilly and getting dark and I didn't even really know where I was going to get to the hostel from the bus stop anyway, so I took a taxi. It was a little pricey, but I had a lovely conversation with the cabby and he dropped me off right in front of the hostel (which was great, because it doesn't have any sort of sign on it or anything).

So now I'm in Wales. I didn't really think this plan through all the way, so I hope it goes well. I'm going to check out a castle this afternoon.

I'm already scared about the journey back to London on Wednesday. I need to get over this traveling alone thing, since I'm going to be doing a lot of it next month.

Eagle Owl FTW!

I don't know how many pictures I'll actually get to post since the interwebs are being super slow. Sorry if it ends up not being very many.

After Inverness, we went to Cawdor Castle. It was described as a "fairy tale" castle. It was kind of small for a castle, but cute. And the gardens were fun. They were walled and we kept yelling, "Colin! I'm in the GAHden!" 

Then we drove down to Kilchurn Castle. For a while we couldn't find it in the GPS until we put it in as a town (it's not a town. It's not even a functioning castle anymore). So after the GPS took us to a bunch of trees, we made a few U-turns and eventually found the right parking lot. There was literally one tiny little sign that said, "This way to castle." The arrow pointed to a small path. 

The ruins ended up being fairly awesome. The view was spectacular and there were just a handful of people around. It wasn't all touristified, which was a nice change of pace. Also, it was free! We hung out at the castle for a while - we soaked our feet in the frigid lake for a while, too! 

My camera battery died, so all my pictures for that are from my phone, which was also dying. Bad planning on my part, but oh well. 

After Kilchurn we headed to Stirling for the night. We basically were trying to find a hostel in a town that wasn't big (we were avoiding Glasgow and Edinburgh). We found out when we got there that they, too, have a castle and old time jail.

So naturally, we checked it out the next morning. It was splendid. In my opinion, way cooler than Edinburgh Castle. The weather was less than awesome with some rain and a lot of wind, but nevertheless, we had a good time.

Oh, and there are huge tapestries with unicorns everywhere in the castle. And the story behind them is really cool. Also, I got to pose with a unicorn horn. My life is now complete.

We went to the Old Time Jail in Stirling, too. Interesting and fun. I love live actors - they really add a great vibe to things.

We didn't go to it, but we did drive to the Wallace Monument, in honor of the great William Wallace. It was quite the site from far away. Very tall.

Then so. much. rain. We stayed outside of Carlisle again, in the same hostel as on our way to up Scotland. Honestly, I was a little nervous we were going to get stuck there because of flooding. Apparently the rain storms this September are the worst they have had for this time of year in thirty years. Go figure. 

But we managed to not get flooded in and got to Birmingham the next day.

We were really just in Birmingham because we needed a place to stay. The weather was miserable so we didn't do much. Then today we drove to Stratford upon Avon. Multiple people had suggested we go there. Honestly, I'm not really a Shakespeare fan so I wasn't that excited about it. But it was nice. Not really because of the whole Shakespeare thing, but because it was a glimpse into the Tudor life. And the architecture and furniture of the era are very interesting. We also got to see a falconry demonstration! There was a sign that said that they have training days so people can learn falconry. I really wish I had time for that! So cool.

Tomorrow TC goes home, and I'm off to Wales. Hopefully that will go well...

Charming Inverness

Goodbye big city, hello little Inverness! It's a cute town, a nice "Capital of the Highlands". We quite enjoy it. 

The drive up here was nice and uneventful. We stopped off to get some food, following signs that had a little fork and knife on it. Eventually they led to a "grill" in the middle of no where, surrounded by cows (which really shouldn't surprise me since everything is surrounded by either cows or sheep here). It was basically a diner. The guy that served the food also cooked it, worked the register, and was doing other various things about the place. There was a lady that was working there too, though I'm not sure what she did. He seemed to have it all under control.

And there were dramatic clouds while we were driving (and some rain, but nothing serious)

We reached Inverness in the afternoon. The hostel is super cute and the people here are kind of awesome. We played monopoly with a couple of them last night. And I didn't even lose first! I didn't win though. Someday, I will....

There's a badger puppet hanging out in the fireplace.

There is also a castle a few hundred feet down the street. I saw it and thought, "that looks like a very new castle". After some research, I found that it is relatively new. It was built (if I remember correctly) in the 1800s because someone had the nerve to blow the other one up in the 1700s. Rude.

Today we got up, did some shopping (there is a store here called Primark. It's great) and then went to Urquhart Castle. It's pretty much a bunch of ruins. We had fun.

I decided the best way to make us happy is put us somewhere with a great view. Because seriously, it was lovely.

And look! A trebuchet! I love when I have the opportunity to explain to my less geeky friends the workings of an ancient war machine. So fun. And at a time like this they don't ask ridiculous questions like how I know all about trebuchets (I watched a documentary once). 

There were a few boats that do tours to see Nessie. We didn't do that. We aren't quite that delusional. However, I really did want to go in Loch Ness (so I guess I can say that I swam with Nessie?), and I did, but only up to my knees. I wanted to go further, but there were people around so I couldn't change. Also, the water was a degree above arctic. 

It wasn't so bad after I let my feet and lower legs go numb. In fact, I hardly felt anything at all at the point! After I got out, I mentioned the coldness to a couple guys coming down the steps towards the water, you know, in case they also wanted to have a bit of a swim. 

"Haha, oh no! We're not going in!"

They said it like my suggestion was crazy....

Another winning view

Oh, something to keep in mind. There are great gift shops EVERYWHERE! Seriously, it's going to be the death of me. Or at least end with me in the poor house. Do "they" still have poor houses? I did, however, successfully NOT buy a highlands cow hat today, so that's something.

Fairies, Elves, and probably Centaurs

It's been a week and a day since we landed in the UK. It seems so much longer than that (in a good way) because we've seen so much.

We left Bath Monday morning (at least that's what I think. I ask TC at least twice a day what day it is. They all mush together), and headed to Derbyshire. The day was spent mostly just driving and relaxing once we got to the inn (we took a night-long break from hostels).

According to Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy owned half of Derbyshire, and the house that Jane Austen probably had in mind while writing about Darcy is the Chatsworth House. Now, that's all going on what I've heard, but it would make a lot of sense.

Because ohmygosh it's amazing.

Tuesday, we thought it was going to rain on us (which happens a lot here - the thinking it's going to), but the sky cleared and was very blue. I've decided England is the land of the dramatic sky. All of our surroundings looked like a painting; there were even sheep.

The inside of the house has a pretty impressive art collection and an amazing library (I have not been dreaming big enough). You can seen the doors at the bottom of this picture for scale. They were probably 8ft doors, too.

The garden is huge and lovely. We had a great time wandering around and seeing all the flowers and statues. We could not get over the sky and surroundings. I cannot tell you how many times I kept saying "Oh my word, this is gorgeous!"

I did nothing to the color of the sky in this photo!

We also took some time to have afternoon tea. It was delicious :)

There was also a small animal farm section of the property. We hung out with some guinnea pigs, pet some horses and goats, and watched a cow-milking demonstration. As we got into our car to leave, it started raining. Oh! And I had to stop to let some sheep cross the road at one point, so that's checked off my list of things to do in the UK.

We were originally going to drive to Edinburgh after that, but in our planning, we decided that was a long drive. So instead we stopped off at a hostel outside of Carlisle. That was an adventure.

The GPS got really confused because apparently there have been quite a few changes to the roads very recently in that area. So we were wandering around until after dark trying to find a tiny town in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I'm sure the surrounding were beautiful, but we missed most of the them between the hedges and the dark. When we did finally find the road that the place was on, there were about twenty cows in the way. And they did not want to move. For way too long.

We brought the number of people staying there up to four. The guy was from nearby, but the girl there was from Australia. She was super cool. We did not get a lot of sleep that night because we were talking about life and accents until late in the night. Hilarious conversation. I love hearing non-Americans try to do the American accent. Just "park the car" made us laugh for a while.

Wednesday (right?) morning we drove up to Edinburgh, where we are now. At one point we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures because the drive (the GPS took us the scenic route) was phenomenal.

On our way, we discovered that in both of our minds, Scotland is a magical, mystical land, and that maybe there would be fairies that sprinkled fairy dust on us as we crossed the border. And that elves probably lived somewhere in Scotland. Maybe even centaurs.

No fairies did we see at the border (but fairies are small and we were driving quickly, so it's not a definite), and I'm guessing the elves are in the Highlands, so maybe we'll see some in the next couple days. There is, however, a painting of a centaur on the wall of the hostel.

We checked out Portabello, which is the coastal town part of the main city. It was nice but cold. I'm the slowest at adjusting to the cold, so I've been rather pathetic for a couple days.

Today it's raining. We check out a cathedral which was pretty, and then the Edinburgh Castle. Honestly, I was a little disappointed by it. Maybe because of the weather since the views weren't as great (when everything is grey, it just isn't that exciting).

I didn't get a lot of pictures because of the rain and because I just wasn't feeling it. That part makes me sad. I really wanted to be excited about it. I guess I can't have everything. I think part of it is that this is our third city in a week and we are sort of over cities, especially since seeing the country has been so great. That and my shoes have been hating me. My feet are not accustomed to so much walking and therefore get blisters. Boo.

Tomorrow we head up to Inverness and LOCH NESS!! Nessie better be ready, because I'm willing to risk hypothermia and/or pneumonia to say hello to her.

The Cliffs of INSANITY!!!

"Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who is used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being" - Jane Austen

(I couldn't find a quote that was relevant, but I thought I needed to quote Jane here)

We are currently in BATH!! And we have been since Friday night. The city is beautiful with all it's super old buildings and such. Yesterday we didn't spend much time in the city, but slept in and then went to Stonehenge.

Oh wait! I forgot to post about the White Cliffs of Dover! Mostly because my computer died and I was too lazy to charge it for a couple days.

Friday we drove from London to Dover to see the cliffs because we had heard they were gorgeous. During the drive my thoughts went a little like this:
"Huh, this doesn't look much different than New Jersey."
"Oh, now we are on to Lancaster. Nice farms, rolling hills. Yup, Lancaster."
"Oooo, this is pretty. Wow, that is a lot of open space! And it's pretty!"
"Okay, okay, no longer the US. Definitely looks foreign now."
This was all to take away from
"Oh my gosh, I'm on the left side of the road and this is weird. Oh no! I have to turn.....eek! I really hope we don't die. Whew, we survived."

For a minute of two we thought it was going to rain, but instead the weather cleared and we had a lovely time. The clouds were dramatic and everything was beautiful.

DRAMATIC CLOUDS!!

Seriously though, it was a beautiful day. We didn't really want to leave, but we didn't have anywhere to sit (there were some ledges, but they are chalky and, well, TC was already trying to get the white dust off her pants). And we needed to get going so we would arrive in Bath at a decent hour (since Dover and Bath aren't at all close to each other)

The hostel here is much more hostel-like than the last. As in, it has fun wall paintings, more space, a common room, and people that actually seem nice. Ask me about our first night here sometime though. It was a fun adventure.

Moving on. Saturday we chilled because the crazy running around and stress of driving on the left side (not a lot of conscious stress, just enough extra mental energy to make it tiring) left us pretty tired. So we slept in and then decided we were really really hungry so we tried to find a grocery store. We ended up at something that sold food and clothes (but not quite a super walmart). We bought this:

That's right: a block of delicious cheese, some pepperoni, and crackers. I would like to take this time to be thankful for a traveling companion that is low maintenance. We were both completely satisfied with this meal :). But then we realized that we didn't want to eat all of it at once, but had nothing in which to store it. Fortunately, we were still in the parking lot of the store, so back in we went! For paper towels, bags, and sunglasses (because neither of us brought them from the US and it was quite sunny).

Then we got distracted by the clothing. Oops. I'm now the proud owner of plum-colored corduroy skinny pants. Who'd a thunk?

Back in the car and then to Stonehenge. For some reason I had thought for years that it was StoneHEDGE. Nope. It's not. It's "henge" which means "hanging". Hanging stones.

Anyway!

Once upon a time  I was looking up different places in the world I wanted to go. I saw some pictures of England and thought "there is no way that the sky is that blue, it must be photoshopped." Not so much anymore. The sky was incredibly blue (my point and shoot camera does not do it justice). And the contrast between the blue and the green of the grass and fields around Stonehenge - ah, so great!

Thistle!

Just in case you wouldn't have noticed a giant metal machine crossing the road...

So that was Saturday. Today is Sunday. We started out pretty chill again, thinking, "We'll go to the Roman Baths. That shouldn't take that long, not like the Tower of London when we ended up taking a couple hours, not realizing it was more than just a tower."

Nope, it didn't take two hours. It only took an hour and a half. Ha. But it was really cool to see. It's crazy when the audio tour person says things like, "This was carved in 73 AD." Because as an American, my brain doesn't think like that. We say things like, "WAY back in the day, like 1650, so and so did this." And that's OLD for us. America is such a baby (I mean that in the young way, not necessarily maturity, although...)

This picture really doesn't make it as cool looking as it was. Sorry. After the Baths, we went to the Fashion Museum. I'm not a fashion buff at all (shocking, I know), but the dresses from the 17th to early 20th centuries were kind of awesome. And we got to try on corsets, hoop-skirts, and dresses! So fun.

Then over the the Jane Austen history thing. It wasn't really a museum, but it was pretty informative. I found out that while she enjoyed her six week visit to Bath as a young adult, she really hated living here. Apparently it was very superficial and she just didn't care for it. However, it was a key location in both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, so it definitely left an impact. Also, she came from a really big family - never knew that.

Bath is fun in that they let you try on stuff, a lot:

We are so cool.

Tonight on our way home after getting some delicious burgers and an Irish Pub, we walked by this:

It looks pretty awesome during the day (I think this is Bath Abbey - don't quote me though), but at night with it lit up, it's impressive. 

This has been a really long post. Now I know why it is good to update every day. Tomorrow we leave Bath and head up to Derbyshire. I'm excited to see more of the country-side, as I have a feeling it's going to be great.

Patience, Iago

I actually have no idea how to spell the parrot's name (the one from Aladdin), but that is not the point. The point is that my computer battery is dead and until I find time to charge it in the hallway (the location of the only outlet we can get to work, I only have my phone to work with. And let's face it, typing up a post is not as easy on a phone as it is on a computer with a real keyboard. So no pics and long post for now.
We are currently in Bath. A few observations thus far:
1. They love the nightlife here. What exactly that nightlife is, I'm not sure, but it keeps them up late and they are as loud as Americans in the middle of the night.
2. There seem to be a very high ratio of men in Bath. It's actually rather strange to see so many around.
3. We haven't died yet, but driving on tiny roads in the city in a car I'm not familiar with and on the left side of the road is scary. And exhausting.
4. The buildings here are beautiful, as is the surrounding countryside. More on that later.
That's it for now because doing this on a tiny screen is not my favorite. 'Night.

London Bridge is Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down

Look! Two days in a row! I'm actually awake tonight because I got a good amount of sleep last night and had a wonderful nap this afternoon. 

This morning we went to the Tower of London. For some reason I was under the impression that it would take like an hour, probably because I didn't realize it was in a FORT! Or close enough to a fort. Ah, American ignorance - it always keeps things interesting.

See, it's huge!

Always make sure that, when involved in a battle involving crossbows, you are dressed appropriately. Otherwise you may end up looking like this guy:

I don't know if you can see, but there are lot of very modern buildings outside of this window. It was sort of bizarre to be in a building that was hundreds of years old and look across the river at shining steel and glass structures.

And this is me being sad because I'm locked in a tower and don't have a chisel or nail to carve my name and depressing thoughts into the stone around me.

Also, I decided that if I'm ever royalty and need to be put in prison, I want to be in a English tower. One of the kings of Scotland was imprisoned at the Tower of London. He was only allowed to venture within a TWENTY-ONE MILE RADIUS of the tower! WHAT?!? And could go on hunting excursions as long as he left a couple of his favorite people behind as collateral. How is that even imprisonment?

After lunch, we went to the London Bridge experience, which included a little bit of history (we can probably blame the Vikings for the London Bridge is falling down song) and a lot of creepy. It was pretty much a haunted maze underground. I got hit in the eye by a fake severed arm dangling from the ceiling. I never really thought I would ever have to worry about that. See all the new things I'm experiencing during my travels?

I also found some perspective underneath that bridge. If I'm having a bad day, all I have to remember is it could be worse. I could be disemboweled while still alive and then have someone smacking me in the face with my own intestines. That would be a bad day indeed.

I think I suffer from...

Anglophilia
noun.
a strong admiration or enthusiasm for England, its people, and things English.

TC and I are in ENGLAND!! Everything went really smoothly on the way here. Security was a breeze, the flight landed at London Heathrow thirty-five minutes ahead of schedule, and we didn't even get lost on the way to the hostel!

That's saying something, folks.

TC has a rolling suitcase, and I have a big backpack. This morning she asked, "So are the backpacks that much better? I see a lot of people using them." At first I couldn't think of why they were so much better (because honestly, they are awkward on elevators and the tube). But then I remembered why they are so nice; see, the tube is underground, and there are steps everywhere. 

We stowed our bags at the hostel, grabbed a pizza because we were famished by that point, and headed out to see some of London. All the pics are lacking editing of any sort and some might be blurry because stuff was behind glass, but at least this way you can't say I didn't post pics.

The London Eye! Nothing says "this is a good idea" quite like having a GIANT ferris wheel-like amusement that is only supported on one side and hangs over the river. So cool, but a little nerve-wracking. We didn't ride it. The line was long and the prices high.

The view across the river of Big Ben and I think that's parliament. We were very confused for a while as to what it is, but I think we finally decided on that. Here's Westminster Abby. No pics of the inside (no photos allowed, boo), but it was so impressive. And a little excessive.

It thought about raining or a minute.

Seriously, I took one photo right after the other.

And then we went to Winston Churchill's War Rooms. This is just one shot but it was very informative and I got a lot more.

And I'll leave you with this:

It's around the corner from our hostel. Old-fashioned police boxes are hard to come by, so I guess this is the next best thing.

Things we have learned so far:

1. Even with an empty seat between us, we are both terrible at sleeping on planes.

2. It's really hard not to have a grin fixed on our faces when around people with English accents (even though I've seen so many movies and TV shows with accents and hardly think about it when it's in the context). Especially the first few minutes on the plane.

3. It's not acceptable to go to bed at 7pm when on an overseas adventure, not matter how hard it is to keep your eyes open :)

That's all for today. I'm pretty sure I dozed twice just while writing this (and if you can't tell, I didn't really put a lot of effort and time into this post)

Semi-retirement

I would like to take this moment to thank these friends who have been ever so faithful to me for the past nine months. 

These picture doesn't do justice in showing the amount of abuse they have endured in order to make my life easier. The soles are starting to come off and the heels are scuffed up pretty badly, but I suppose that's what happens when you buy shoes at Payless and then wear them almost every day of work. They are surprisingly comfortable. 

So happy semi-retirement, shoes! (because I know I'll still wear you again at some point)

Best Text Ever

A week ago I got a text from my college roommate:

"Jen!!! I may becoming to NYC with friends this weekend!! Will you be around/able to driver there if I go?"

We hadn't seen each other in almost two years, which is terribly sad because she's one of the coolest people ever and very dear to me. So naturally, I was stoked. Really stoked.

I drove to Long Island where she and two of her friends were staying with their other friend. After drinking some coffee on the back patio sort of thing, all of us went to All American Burger. Mmmm, delicious. I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy easy the scrumptiousness. Then we went here :

It's a castle. In Long Island, NY. How did I not know about this?!? Apparently it cost money to get in, so instead we swung by a big ol' house that had these (which I now would like in my house someday):

And this! (forgive my terribly, low-lit phone photography)

So fun! One of the guys tried pulling out a bunch of books in hopes that one of the shelves would swing out, revealing a secret room. No luck. We didn't stay long because everything was set up for a wedding, and we felt it might be terribly awkward to get stuck inside when the thing started.

Then we went into the city. I'm not a huge city person (as in I live close to two major US cities and hardly ever go to either), but it was really fun. We got some delicious Mac n' Cheese at S'Mac. They cook it in a tiny cast-iron skillet, which results in amazing scalding awesomeness.

One of the guys had been told by his chiropractor's receptionist (in Tennessee) about this really neat place to go. It's almost impossible to get into without a reservation and they only take same-day reservations, so we called literally over 200 times before getting through (and I'm not one to use the word "literally" to mean practically. I think the actually count was close to 240), but they didn't have any times left until 1am.

BUT we were not so easily deterred. The place opened at 6. We were there at 6:05 and since the person that had reserved the 6 hadn't shown yet, they let us in! Here is Sarah (that's my roommate) and I in the corner booth.

The lighting was perfect for the atmosphere but kind of awful for pictures. And I'm really sad that I didn't get a picture of the stuffed BADGER WEARING A SCARF. Seriously, I'm not sure there could be any other taxidermied decoration that could make me as happy as that badger did.

We didn't stay too long since the other party eventually showed, but it was so cool while it lasted.

Then we went to various other places, one being a rooftop bar that was right next to this:

The best part? The live jazz - just a trombone player, drummer, and keyboardist. Very cool. Very New York.

After that, we grabbed super-hot pizza and took the train back to Long Island. I said goodbye to my new friends and Sarah =( and drove home.

Such a fantastic day. I really need to make sure it isn't two years before I see my roommate again, because it was so stinkin' fun hanging out with her. Her friends were pretty great, too. That the whole thing was kind of spontaneous just added to the awesome. I was looking forward to seeing Sarah in maybe December, so the fact that I got to see her yesterday was amazing. I miss her.