London

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The last two days in London were great.  I had a bap (without bubbles) at Maria’s Market Cafe in the Borough Market.  The sandwich was overly greasy with hearty bread and the skimpiest of vegetables on top, perfect.  In the afternoon I saw the exhibit Animals Inside Out, plastinated and dissected animals by the same people who do the Bodies exhibits.  The preserved detail is amazing, and offers the chance to compare anatomies of different species in the same family (horses have longer feet & walk on their toes).  My favorite is the shark who’s veins and arteries are left in place but everything else has been removed.  Fine red wires are all that’s left, mostly concentrated in the fins & more sparse in the nose.  

The last day was a great day for spotting cars.  On the one hand I feel like the unashamed paparazzi but on the other, they’re driving an out of the ordinary freaking awesome car!  I visited Daunt Books to look for another book (as I finished Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, which is a wonderfully reasoned book).  I couldn’t find anything I liked but the store has a great classical, comfortable look.  Today, after being in England for three months, I had a proper English tea time.  It was quite impressive.  I didn’t think I would like tea with milk and sugar, but it was very good.  My favorite part is the scone with clotted cream.  Clotted cream tastes lightly like butter but with a thin milk flavor toward the end.  I’ll be looking for it when I get home.  Before I go back to the hostel I ran into a protest (?).  I think they were celebrating someone’s birthday.  Either way they stopped traffic in Oxford Circus (and trapped an Aston Martin in the intersection), crazy. (photos, more)  

Atlas Shrugged

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I finished Atlas Shrugged in the British Library.  I really like the book & the ending.  The political fog is lifted and the opposing viewpoint labeled and rationally, logically explored. The kernel of Objectivism- “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”-Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.  The book is definitely worth a read, if nothing else read John Galt’s fifty page speech,  because of the way Ayn Rand frames and argues the point of alturism and working for your own happiness.  One clever side note, Ayn Rand argues that reality is real, exists, and affects us; our senses do not deceive us.  These points were discussed in my philosophy course, Locke: Appearance and Reality.  Some philosophers argue that we cannot know anything, or that the world is a creation of our mind.  This line of thinking reminds me of the lady who died trying to live on sunshine (Darwin Award anyone?).  But the book is a great read, the fictional story helps lighten the load of the dense philosophy.  While reading it I could clearly see many parallels to news stories or the way politicians were acting, rationally exposing their motives and goals.

Kew Gardens

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Saw Kew Gardens and Wicked the other day.  Kew is really nice, a good break from the city.  Its almost on the last stop of the District line of the Tube.  It rained on again & off again, so I darted from greenhouse to greenhouse.  The main one is the largest surviving Victorian greenhouse.  I saw some new plants, specifically the jade vine and the caulerpa.  I was lucky, the jade vine in the first greenhouse bloomed two weeks ago, but the other one was in full bloom, and the color was really great.  Like an Easter egg.  The caulerpa is unusual in that it is made of only one cell, one of the largest in the world.  

The last time I saw Wicked was on Broadway five years ago.  It was great to see it a second time, but undoubtedly the show was different (not the slightest change was the English accents).  This altered the original memory.  I had this discussion with a couple in Dubrovnik, whether or not it is beneficial to revisit places.  They had the souring experience of visiting a city a second time and it couldn’t live up to their previous standard.  There are other plays I would like to see again (Tartuffe, Moonlight and Magnolias).  The other thing is, especially when visiting cities, the first trip is about seeing the history and major sights.  You cannot visit a place like London & not have seen Parlament or the London Eye, people will think you’re crazy.  When the major sights are done, subsequent trips are to explore what makes that destination truly unique to its citizens.  I’ve never been to some of the attractions where I live, but I can tell you all the best restaurants (for bbq and bacon cheese fries) as well as cool places to hangout.  (photos)

London

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London is great, again.  I got to see Parlament in session (the House of Commons).  It seemed relaxed.  Granted they were not debating a hot topic, financial services bill report govt. new clause 4.  Basically do pay day loan lenders need more regulation.  There were lots of sob stories, so and so just needed cash they didn’t have time to read the fine print or research a company.  Cameras are not allowed (neither are guns, knives, padlocks, video cameras, or cell phones), so I took some time to draw it.  It turned out ok.  I know what it looks like because it helps recall my memory of being there.

That was Yesterday.  Today I saw a play.  My day began with an Affogato, really just ice cream with an espresso poured over, but it was brilliant.  The flavor would increase in bitterness, just to the point when it is about to turn bad and then mellows out.  Without any plans I walked to the West End, London’s Broadway, & found a discount ticket place (TKTS, the original) & asked about prices.  I wanted to see Chicago but it was a bit expensive, so I caught the matinee of Woman In Black.  My friend from Nottingham University said the play was good, I was skeptical because the plot is a ghost story.  Boy was I wrong, everything about it was great.  The lighting, sounds, jumps, and characters.  None of the frights were given away beforehand, just as it should be, but not as good as I was expecting.  The pacing seemed a little slow, but looking back it was good.  (photos, more, even more)

London again?

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Slight change of plan.  Missed my flight to Paris.  The arrival time in Copenhagen (the connecting airport) was in bold instead of the departure time.  Arrival times are not useful if you miss the departure time.  So, as flights to London are half the price of flights to Paris, I’m now in London.  It almost feels like being home, everyone speaks English, the brands are familiar, and I can read newspapers and signs again.  I’m feeling a little home sick, as a result I’ve been to McDonalds twice here.  

The first night was interesting.  The only place with room was above a 24 hour pub bar, checkin at the bar.  The rooms were tiny with triple bunk beds, & the lockers were a cubic foot.  Got right out of there and now I’m in a proper hostel.  Until next time, cheers.

Plitvice

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Plitvice is definitely worth the 11 hour drive to get there.  It took about 9 hours to comfortably see the park, and with no one there it was peaceful.  I took the time to read a bit, of course.  The park is very similar to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rolling hills, deciduous trees, ice cold water.  The waterfalls seem endless.  The pictures all look the same, but walking for 9 hours and seeing different, complex waterfalls is amazing.  In the afternoon the sun came out and the colors followed.  The water, aquamarine; the clouds, white; the moss, green; the sky blue, and all pure colors. (photos, more)

Dubrovnik

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Turns out in the Dubrovnik harbor is the world’s third largest yacht, Al Said.  Thats right, just ran into the first and third.  This one is owned by the sultan of Oman.  Not as great as the other one (its beige), but still a good surprise to see.  Again, had to walk all the way around the harbor for a good view.  

We have made a change of plan and left Dubrovnik three days early to see Plitvice National Park.  After walking around for only two hours this evening, we’ve made the right choice.  Dubrovnik is pretty, but the coast is a cliff, thus unwalkable, the old city is mostly touristy, and the whole city is generally tough to walk.  It is settled between the mountains and the sea, so the road are narrow and not conducive to walking.  Now we are outdoor hiking around and over many waterfalls in between 16 lakes, a pleasant shift from the cities.  We’ve purposefully kept our itinerary open for changes like this.  The only things that are certain are the fights from country to country.  Even the hostels can be changed on relatively short notice, which makes for a nice general framework. (photos)

Split

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It has been raining quite a bit here in Croatia.  I thought the Mediterranean was all sunshine, but it would be strange going an entire month without rain.  Just why did it have to happen in our outdoor destination?  My spirit has been unabated.  Sure its raining, but its Croatian rain!  Doesn’t help much, but I’m still happy.  Breakfast in Europe is more like dessert (unlike pan fried pancakes covered in liquid sugar, obviously).  I started the day with chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt.  We walked around the beaches in Split and had cheese cured meat and bread for lunch on rocks in the sea, a great day.  (extra photos, more)

Diocletian’s Palace

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Croatia is wonderful.  The city is quite old, & was used as Diocletian’s palace in the late third century.  Some of the old walls are still standing as are the underground floors.  There are 5 bakeries and 2 pizzerias in a 4 minute walk from our hostel.  Perfect, I’ve had bread and nutella for about three meals now, interspersed with bread and cheese.  Good thing I’m walking everywhere.  I’m trying to branch out with new food, but it’s difficult to find.  In Barcelona we found a great sandwich place our last day.  In Florence we found a local sandwich place inside the market, serving marinated meats on white bread, soaked in gravy.  In Rome I ate prosciutto and cheese.  I hear Croatia is big on seafood (major plus), however I have yet to find it. (photos)