Or actually Bornheim. This is where Svenja lives and is where I chose to spend the day.
I end up doing very little as it is so cold.
When I leave the city I buy no ticket but travel as a user. I plan to use the innocent kiwi who didn't realise technique.
"One please for the airport"
"Huh? I'm supposed to already have one?"
"Where was I supposed to buy a ticket?"
etc
When someone with a highlighet jacket gets on, i get off. But no one questions me.
We spent the night playing a board game with her friend and talking. And eating. She's cool.
Feb 14, 2008
Staying with Svenja
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I pressed the key saying 'Goldenthai' and waited for the bodiless voice to bid me welcome. Then it was in, out of the cold.
The flat was small but cosy. The flatmates super nice. Svenja, my official couch host, is moving out in 2 days to study in Madrid, she has caught a cold yesterday and she has an exam, now. Yet she welcomed me in without a pause. That's kindness that can never be bought. She also has a cool little black dog called Bandida which she picked up on her travels though Equidor and brought back with her to Germany!
We took her for a walk too that night and on the way home I stopped in at the super to grab some dinner. First thing i bought was a pretzel. Wow, are they good!
The flat was small but cosy. The flatmates super nice. Svenja, my official couch host, is moving out in 2 days to study in Madrid, she has caught a cold yesterday and she has an exam, now. Yet she welcomed me in without a pause. That's kindness that can never be bought. She also has a cool little black dog called Bandida which she picked up on her travels though Equidor and brought back with her to Germany!
We took her for a walk too that night and on the way home I stopped in at the super to grab some dinner. First thing i bought was a pretzel. Wow, are they good!
Back to pretzels!!!
Caught the tube at 9 to head to the airport. I already hasd my bus booked to get to Stansted and I had traced the route by foot the day before to make sure I made it with ease. So it was and being able to stick my backpack in the 'oversized' grouping meant it could also be overweight as they forgot to check (o:
Hitch from the Frankfurt Hann airport to Frankfurt Main? Cool. Only on my own it is just not fun and so i caught a bus. Then the metro and following Svenja's instructions I was soon buzzing her apartment to be let in out of the cold. Why is it so cold here in Germany?
On the flight here i also came to a realization. It is not that my life is going from high to high and so in need of something mundane to help me appreciate the good times once more. It is not that I need to sit and mull over all i have seen in order to make room for more. It is just that I need a friend to see it all and appreciate it all with. To constantly jump like I have been from one place to another just doesn't work. I am looking forward to seeing Jo again. Even to work. Just for the companionship it offers. Staying with friend is fun, but you need something constant too sometimes.
Also, as said, hitching. On your own it is sad. A cheap way to move. With a friend it brings laughter and smiles as you face off a chosen challenge. You laugh off the rejections, making up stories against them to pass the time. On your own the stories are old. The rejections are real.
Hitch from the Frankfurt Hann airport to Frankfurt Main? Cool. Only on my own it is just not fun and so i caught a bus. Then the metro and following Svenja's instructions I was soon buzzing her apartment to be let in out of the cold. Why is it so cold here in Germany?
On the flight here i also came to a realization. It is not that my life is going from high to high and so in need of something mundane to help me appreciate the good times once more. It is not that I need to sit and mull over all i have seen in order to make room for more. It is just that I need a friend to see it all and appreciate it all with. To constantly jump like I have been from one place to another just doesn't work. I am looking forward to seeing Jo again. Even to work. Just for the companionship it offers. Staying with friend is fun, but you need something constant too sometimes.
Also, as said, hitching. On your own it is sad. A cheap way to move. With a friend it brings laughter and smiles as you face off a chosen challenge. You laugh off the rejections, making up stories against them to pass the time. On your own the stories are old. The rejections are real.
Feb 11, 2008
London stuff
Imperial war museum. Good. Again. Holocaust feature got you thinking.
ipod head phones. replaced.
jesse james. learnt bout his life on day time tv. haha.
bagels. lived on these. good.
air bed for 2 nights! whooop whooop! others moved out; i moved up.
ipod head phones. replaced.
jesse james. learnt bout his life on day time tv. haha.
bagels. lived on these. good.
air bed for 2 nights! whooop whooop! others moved out; i moved up.
Two tourists
Another kiwi girl was crashing at Paul's while I was there as well. Having come over from Canada and feeling the jet lag, I hadn't seen too much of her but she made and appearance and so today we decided to be tourists together.
After a late breakfast at around 10:30, we headed off to watch the change of guards which we were told commences at 11:30. Heaps of time. Or was it?
We were still on a tube at 11:30 and so figured we'd missed it but would go check out Buckingham Palace anyway. Turned up around 11:50 and there were still massive crowds surrounding it. We joined the mayhem, listened to the band play a few tunes and even saw a guard inside be replaced by another. Was that it? Was that the change? Pretty dissapointing I thought. Or we both thought so really and prepared to head off to see what else was around. But before we did so I went and spoke to a local bobby to ask if all was done. Not even close he replied!
At 12am (2 mins away) was when the gates would open and the guards pour out with all the finaries. Cool. So we went to watch. As he had said, the gates opened at 12 and some guys marched out and then some others and then they were gone. Left me wondering once more what all the fuss was about. We then walked the Princess Diana Memorial walk through some Park whilst heading on to see Big Ben. Nice park, had some cool squirrels and pelicans too. After stopping to pose for a photo with one of those guards who can't talk to you (wouldn't even reply when i tried to be polite and ask if it was ok to grab a snap) we made it to Big Ben, saw it was indeed a big clock, and then headed over to Westminster Abbey next door, saw it was indeed an old church, and then the parlimentary buildings and saw they were indeed some old buildings filled with old boring men. Splitting up here as Natasha headed off for a tour of London by bus, I made me way to the Natural History museum to have a look at the big boys. Dinosaurs. And they were HUGE! I reckon it is easy to say you can imagine how big but until you actually see them, I don't think I truly did appreciate it. They were HUGE! Simply HUGE! Also on show are like 200 000 other specimens all worth a look. I even tried to help them out by telling them their Moa's stance was obsolete and that today it is widely agreed upon that they didn't stand with their neck stretched at the upright but instead it was horizontal in a sense to the ground. They asked my email and we'll see what comes of it, haha. Also stopped by the science museum next door which had a few interesting stops. Learnt my brain thinks like that of a woman according to one test I took. Oh and Natasha drove from Canada to Mexico with some friends so it can be done!
After a late breakfast at around 10:30, we headed off to watch the change of guards which we were told commences at 11:30. Heaps of time. Or was it?
We were still on a tube at 11:30 and so figured we'd missed it but would go check out Buckingham Palace anyway. Turned up around 11:50 and there were still massive crowds surrounding it. We joined the mayhem, listened to the band play a few tunes and even saw a guard inside be replaced by another. Was that it? Was that the change? Pretty dissapointing I thought. Or we both thought so really and prepared to head off to see what else was around. But before we did so I went and spoke to a local bobby to ask if all was done. Not even close he replied!
At 12am (2 mins away) was when the gates would open and the guards pour out with all the finaries. Cool. So we went to watch. As he had said, the gates opened at 12 and some guys marched out and then some others and then they were gone. Left me wondering once more what all the fuss was about. We then walked the Princess Diana Memorial walk through some Park whilst heading on to see Big Ben. Nice park, had some cool squirrels and pelicans too. After stopping to pose for a photo with one of those guards who can't talk to you (wouldn't even reply when i tried to be polite and ask if it was ok to grab a snap) we made it to Big Ben, saw it was indeed a big clock, and then headed over to Westminster Abbey next door, saw it was indeed an old church, and then the parlimentary buildings and saw they were indeed some old buildings filled with old boring men. Splitting up here as Natasha headed off for a tour of London by bus, I made me way to the Natural History museum to have a look at the big boys. Dinosaurs. And they were HUGE! I reckon it is easy to say you can imagine how big but until you actually see them, I don't think I truly did appreciate it. They were HUGE! Simply HUGE! Also on show are like 200 000 other specimens all worth a look. I even tried to help them out by telling them their Moa's stance was obsolete and that today it is widely agreed upon that they didn't stand with their neck stretched at the upright but instead it was horizontal in a sense to the ground. They asked my email and we'll see what comes of it, haha. Also stopped by the science museum next door which had a few interesting stops. Learnt my brain thinks like that of a woman according to one test I took. Oh and Natasha drove from Canada to Mexico with some friends so it can be done!
Feb 10, 2008
London tourist
But I am in London and so some sight seeing should probably be thrown in. There are enough sights here to last it seems as well. First stop for me was the Tate modern. This was the number one tourist attraction in London last year numbers wise. It is a modern art gallery from what I saw and contains a lot of those modern pieces of art which I would call piles of junk. Seriously. A dead bird arrowed to a wall. A blan white square with a red circle in the corner, titled "Death of artisitc freedom", a mangled rubbish bin with a newsreel pouring out of it. Let's be honest, I don't get art and neither do you. Some people just pretend to. In fact, the best piece for me, and the only exhibit I liked, was by this African guy who was really good and took the piss out of modern art. One painting showed him looking on at 'modern' pieces and he looks lost and the caption says something about him questioning what the hell it is all about. He used bright colours too. Always cool I had walked to the Tate Modern from Trafalgur Square (walking around London is like walking along the Monoploy board and had me constantly on the look out for a giant hat, ready to run me over on its way to Mayfair. Did see a red hotel too!). Anyway, the reason for being at Trafalgur was for the Chinese New Year celebrations. There was a festival on that I had chosen to go see. Caught one of the infamous brigh red double decker buses over from Chiswick where i was staying with Paul Leo and had arrived in time for a show of dancers, a selection of chinese food stalls and lanterns and flags blowing around all over the place. It is the year of the rat too and being born in 1984 makes me an honourary member (o: On my way to the tate by foot I stopped for an hour or so to watch some kids in a skate park. At times there were around 100 observers I reckon. Not that they were all that great. But I have found I love to watch them. I was at the tate till around 5pm and then I hit home, found the supermarket had shut at 5 and so ended up out for tea with Paul and Nicky to a Chinese all you can eat buffet. Fitting.
Pub crawl
Pub crawl? Doesn't that imply pubs are involved? Did make one I guess for a toilet stop. Otherwise it all seemed to go on outside.
It's the next morning now so I'm not really in the mood to write but here's a summary...
Breakfast at Paul's friend's house. Big fry up of sausages, eggs, baked beans, onions etc. This was accompanied by a litre of scrumpy, a couple of torpedo'd beers and a moko drawn on half my face with a permanent marker. Then we set off to join the crawl.
(pic of group)
We started at some mid street place. Don't know where. Will have to ask. Big crowd of kiwis all over the place. The pisser was a wall next to a florist. Some girl even tried taking money for it!
Next was somewhere else. I can't even remember. London is huge and it all looks the same. And I guess by now we were all a bit drunk.
Night ended in a club where we avoided the door charge by going in the back door. Or Paul was leading and I was following. Ahh, the blame game (o:
All in all it was another good night.
It's the next morning now so I'm not really in the mood to write but here's a summary...
Breakfast at Paul's friend's house. Big fry up of sausages, eggs, baked beans, onions etc. This was accompanied by a litre of scrumpy, a couple of torpedo'd beers and a moko drawn on half my face with a permanent marker. Then we set off to join the crawl.
(pic of group)
We started at some mid street place. Don't know where. Will have to ask. Big crowd of kiwis all over the place. The pisser was a wall next to a florist. Some girl even tried taking money for it!
Next was somewhere else. I can't even remember. London is huge and it all looks the same. And I guess by now we were all a bit drunk.
Night ended in a club where we avoided the door charge by going in the back door. Or Paul was leading and I was following. Ahh, the blame game (o:
All in all it was another good night.
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