A Touring Resident

I noticed something very interesting a little over a week ago. As I was waiting for Katie Beth and Melissa to show up for "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (which was absolute hilarious! Oh yeah, plus we were almost completely late....made it by about 20 seconds, oh my) at the Globe, I realized I didn't feel like a tourist. I was standing off to the side in my black suit and heels holding a sugared latte and looking out over the milling crowds for two familiar figures. Tourists passed by. Tourists with their maps, their across-the-shoulder bags, their shorts and T-shirts.

I'm not quite like them anymore. I've lived in London for two months now, and in the midst of that time I've cooked, cleaned, studied, toured, and worked for myself. I can get to a good many places on the Tube without looking at a map, and I've got the entirety of the Piccadilly line for Zone 1 memorised (I ride it every day to work). I've got a church, grocery store, flat, Tube station, and work place. It's kinda like my own little mini-adult world.

So when I go off touring, like this weekend, I smile whilst passing by tourists. I might be seeing the sights, but I'm doing it more like a resident than a transient tourist.

Last week, Melissa mentioned wanting to go to Windsor Castle, so I passed along the idea to my flatmates. Six of us ended up going-- Erika and Melissa as well as my flatmates Kelsey, Emily, Jenni, and Michelle (plus me). Melissa and Erika got us open tickets for Saturday which meant we could leave and return whenever for only £5.40! In true form carried over from times with Katie Beth, we arrived about five minutes late for the 9:28 AM train and subsequently missed the changing of the guard at Windsor. Ah well (I think we would have missed it anyway because they weren't letting people in until around noon-ish anyway). The one-hour ride was pleasant, and we found six seats for all of us.

Going in, I didn't really know what Windsor Castle would be like except that I had heard Eliza Doolittle mention it in a "My Fair Lady" song. The place is a large collection of a castle and cathedral church structure with gardens sprinkled throughout and remains the largest occupied castle in the world. It was neat to walk through rooms where the Queen regularly walks for grand state dinners and receptions. The church, St. George's Church, is used by the Order of the Garter (which is the Queen, Prince of Wales, and 24 other uber special people). We saw a bunch of famous royalty people buried there.

Walking through that place made me want to see Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark what with all the knight effigies and all. Maybe I'll get to that tonight after a phone call home.

We got into the Castle around 11:45 but decided to finish touring before leaving and getting food. So once we were done, we found a pub and settled in for a large lunch. And large it sure was! The specialty of the place was pie-- kinda like pot pies. I ordered a steak and ale pie not knowing if the ale would throw off the taste too much (I'd previously bought a steak and kidney pie from Sainsbury's. Folks, don't do that. It's nasty.) but knowing I like trying new dishes. It was amazing! Ethyl alcohol has a boiling point of about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so all that's left in the dish is the taste. The steak tasted like the breweries my class visited smelled like. The crust was delicious, and the green beans/cabbage/lettuce and mashed potatoes made for a very filling lunch! All that for only £6.95. A typical sit-down meal will run you about £8-10.

I've decided I kinda like pub fare. It's hearty and not the type of high-fallutin' stuff you might get at other places. Gotta make sure I have some more fish and chips before I leave. Though I'd rather it weren't there, I've gotten used to having the bar around. It'll be interesting heading back to the States and having to get used to my under-21 status again.

But the real adventure of the day was returning back to London. We walked back to the Windsor Riverside station (where we arrived) and found 'emergency engineering works in place'-- basically it was closed but there were nearby bus stops and another train station. So we marched it down to the other station and boarded the train. Except that our tickets were for the other station headed to any London terminal. If a conductor came by to check our tickets, we could be charged a penalty fare of £20. Oh goodness. Part of our tickets revealed the wrong station, so I showed my fellow travelers how to show our tickets but cover that little part up at the same time.

The sign at the other station hadn't give us specific instructions, so we stayed on the train. The six minute ride to the next stop was a little nerve-racking, but we made it through fine. We changed trains and rode on to London still with no one checking! We were home free after slipping our tickets through the gate at Paddington and being released into the Underground. Hooray!

When we got back, Emily and I went to the grocery store to buy a few staples like toilet paper and paper towels (except Sainsbury's was out of their cheap napkins). We also returned to find an IT guy wiping the hard drive of the flat's computer. IE was doing some updating, but he managed to save all my pictures on his USB drive, so once we got them transferred they were safely stored on my drive. Because he had a faulty disk he couldn't finish up, so we (I) were (was) left without desktop internet access last night. Funny how not having tech will make you do different things. I decided to get up on my bed and read for a while before going to bed. Oh, I also had this amazingly flavourful cranberry tea with two of my Harrod's chocolates. Delish.

This morning I continued my pancake endeavours. Oh, I don't suppose I've written on that. Well then, let me tell that wonderful tale. :) Last Saturday while at the grocery store, I picked up a 9p bag of "pancake mix" and some bacon to make on Sunday. Turns out that European pancakes are much different from American pancakes. European pancakes are crepes. Found that out pretty quickly when I poured the batter onto the pan only to have these thin little masses start cooking. I decided to add some baking powder and flour, but that only made 'em fat crepes, so I declared them to be American crepes and proceeded to slather 'em with margarine and raspberry jam and pour on the syrup. The bacon turned out just fine, though.

Round two this morning! On Friday afternoon, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some more English breakfast tea and take a look at their pancake mixes. Buttermilk pancake mix imported from Vermont? Surely this is the real thing! So this morning I quartered the recipe and was delighted to be mixing a lumpy batter for real American pancakes. Everything turned out exactly right except for the pan which is supposedly non-stick but only a teensy, eensy bit so. I do rather like raspberry jam on my pancakes, though. Anyways, once I had everything made, I arranged it on my plate, poured a glass of milk, and brought over my cup of tea. Ahhhh, glorious.

Unfortunately, because the District and Circle lines were down this weekend I wasn't able to make it to church. Also, because of a random digging on Cromwell Road (a road I cross to get to the grocery store), all the buses in the area were running on severe delays. Sigh.

After breakfast, I loaded up my bag and set off for the National Gallery (accessible via the Piccadilly Line). Wow. The National Gallery holds artwork from 1300-1900. Some of the most renowned artists have paintings there. I saw Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, da Vinci, van Gogh, Rapheal, and a host of others. Seriously, wow. I've been in school long enough to have studied/heard of these famous folks, so it's neat to see their works up close and personal. One thing I will miss once we leave-- not having access to such artwork. I'm a big fan of Middle Ages/Renaissance paintings.

Right outside the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square, and today was the perfect day to see it. When I'd been there previously there were always shows or exhibitions set up. Today they had the fountains on, and the sun was glinting off the water and nearby whizzing cars. People were scrambling on top of the bronze lions and sitting under neath Admiral Nelson's statue. That's how Trafalgar Square is meant to be seen.

Because it was still early in the afternoon, I decided to head up to Speaker's Corner, a part of Hyde Park with a history for allowing all types of free speech. Basically, people go there and can talk about anything and everything unless it incites violence or uses too many obscenities. Because of the Tube closures, I had to navigate a bit to get there, but it was well worth the trip. Such an interesting atmosphere. I approached a smallish paved area dotted with variable-sized clumps of people and could already begin to hear shouts coming from the gatherings' middles. Usually, one person on a small stool talks in the middle of a small crowd while onlookers/listeners shout back responses. In the space of less than ten groups I heard people talking about support for Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Iraqi violence, Marxism, Christianity, Islam, and one creepy man asking for dirty favors. Any topic goes. I watched for a little while but decided to head back soon because I hadn't eaten since the pancakes.

And so now I'm back, typing away at a computer that now has access to the internet. Hooray! I stopped by the grocery store again to buy ingredients for my baguette sandwich, and I've still got that half a pizza from last night to finish. Maybe I just might get to that Indy movie tonight.

Ah, and before I close let me provide a little update on the mouse saga. Last night, Emily put some of my peanuts in the middle of a sticky trap, but the next morning we realised the trap had been moved and a few peanuts stolen...with no caught mice. Hm. While I was out and about, somebody picked up a heavy duty snapping trap at a hardware store and put a peanut in it. Die mice! I'll probably walk in on something tomorrow morning...