Here are the rest of our Bath and Stonehenge photos as promised! Amy also added an elephant picture to the “trip over” gallery
Archive for April 6th, 2008
+ Arrived in Munich . The airport had multicolor lights like a German light show(conan o’brien reference) + Used German for the first time to find hotel + Went to main square Marienplatz + old lady said something to us in German about a fountain. We just nodded and pretended to understand. Hope it was funny because we laughed. + Everything is closed on Sunday in Munich. + Had a our first German meal with Pretzel, sausage, and 2.50 euro/bottle mineral water. + Went to Royal Residenz Museum and treasury. Big palace. Lots of jewels. + Something to drink for our dehydrated bodies in San Francisco Coffee Company. The only open store we could find. + Hofbrauhaus for dinner. A famous beer hall with a live oompa band, waiters in traditional lederhosen, big steins of beer, and drunk people.We ordered two beers. Brian finished his. Amy gave hers to two German lads sitting across from us. + Amy shakes Brian on tram ride home asking, “Are you dizzy? Are you dizzy? Are you dizzy?” + Updated blog about London +
Below are some words we’ve added to our vocabulary:
“That’s Genius!” – Amy overheard two small girls talking while playing go. One said “now I move here and I capture your stone.” The other girl exclaimed, “That’s genius!” They sounded so intelligent that we decided to copy them.
“clever” – The driver/tour guide of our Stonehenge purple bus was talking about some engineer who designed a fancy bridge at the age of 21. He called him “quite clever” So apparently use genius when someone is clever and use clever when they are a genius.
“cheers” – a British version of thanks. Amy and I struggled to force ourselves to say break away from our American ways. I murmered it once at a news stand, but then I worked up the courage to say it at a food cart while paying. Though I was so nervous that I made the ‘e’ sound too long. Amy and I practiced later and decided it’s said somewhat like pez but with a ch sound at the beginning.
Hallo from Germany! Amy and I have completed our tour of England.
Here are some pictures from our trip over:
We enjoyed the museums and buildings of London. Amy made friends with a Cantonese tourist at the British Library. We paid too much money for a Ferris wheel ride (but maybe the view was worth it!) My sore knees, back and hip taught me the value of packing light. In one of the British Museums Amy and I played Go and Mah-jong. I am horrible at mahjong; though it didn’t help that no one explained the rules to me until after the game… (Amy interjects:I didn’t know he had never played before!)
On April 4 we spent an afternoon in Oxford. The walking tour there was very interesting and the guide was very scholarly. I had never realized how confusing the Oxford school system is. Amy and I never could figure out where they had classes. Though it would be a great to school to go to. Only 4000 Pounds and they have nice meals served to them in Hogwart-like-dining halls. One of the name cards sitting out in preparation for the students dinner was for Nancy Weatherspoon. Amy and I independently discovered this name card and photographed it. We like that name.
Bath was nice and I got to stay in my first official hostel. Quite nice actually. We took a tour to Stonehenge in a purple bus. The hour drive was entertaining. There was a a white chalk horse carved into the side of a mountain, thatched roof houses, pig farms, and sheep. Amy really enjoyed the sheep. Stonehenge had a very informative audio tour. Amy thought Stonehenge was going to be bigger, and she even had to double check that the stones were in a circle after seeing a postcard. “I thought they were just a pile of rocks,” she said. Back in Bath we were looking forward to their free walking tour which Rick Steves recommended. We were sad when we discovered that there was no afternoon tour on Saturday. Instead we wondered around the city which was bustling because of a rugby match that evening. Later we struggled to figure out how to get a ride back into London for cheap, but eventually found a bus in which we sat behind two of the grumpiest old men I’ve ever encountered. (Amy Continues): there was lady who didn’t have enough money to pay for the full fare so the bus driver was trying to call the bus company to ask for permission to let her on for a lower fare, and almost immediately, these old men were shouting out in protest, “If she doesn’t have the correct fare, then don’t let her on! We’re ten minutes late, and why??” anyway, they kept mumbling for the entire time until the bus driver said “how would you feel if someone left your mother in the middle of nowhere???” to which, they responded, “SO?” Horrible!! Okay, the story can continue with more quotations, but you get the picture.
more pictures coming soon! and our adventures in Deutsch land.
Okay! This is Amy and Brian signing out from Hotel Jeddermann in Munich! More to come about our adventures soon!
Amy and Brian
