Wow, I'm Back in the USA!

Well, I've been back in the US for almost 2 weeks. It's weird. I haven't felt the dreaded 'reverse culture shock,' but I'm certainly noticing the differences (as well as the strange similarities). Before coming back, especially on the cusp of Christmas, I can see now that I was building up my memories of Minneapolis - not to say that Minneapolis isn't a great place. For instance, bacon is wonderful. I savor every piece (yes savor, not savour - maybe my ability to change the nationality of my spelling so quickly is a good metaphor for me adapting back and forth between Ireland and the US [as if there was that huge of a difference between the two {are these nested parentheses driving you nuts?}]), but doesn't have the nice meatiness of Irish rashers...

Since I haven't reported on my last few days and adventure home, and this blog is just as much a journal for myself than a blog for anybody else, I'd like to share that.

I spent a lot of time in the last few days in Dublin walking around, taking pictures, and taking my environs in. I ate lunch at little places in the City Centre that I couldn't anywhere else, got coffee at Fallon and Bryne for the last time, and watched mallards in Stephen's Green - among other things. Jenna flew home with me, so she got to Dublin on Thursday night after a snow-induced delay in Paris. We went to a few pubs around Ranelagh and Rathmines, although they had started closing since we got going to so late. Portabello - James Joyce's old digs - was where we settled, even though they played NHL and had multi-colored dance lights roving around the walls.

Friday was consumed by cleaning, taking care of library fines, and saying goodbye to a city I really loved. I had a guest lecturer in my last class, Irish Politics, that I made sure to make it to. The lecturer was Michael Marsh, who I had cited in papers time after time that semester. It was fun to finally see the guy whose work I'd leeched for the last 4 months.

I though a good dinner would be found at O'Neills. They are recognized as having some of the best quality pub food around - a fitting goodbye. For some reason, maybe that it was the last Friday before Christmas and everybody was having a good time with friends before going to see their family, there was not a free inch in the joint. The 6 of us in the group joined a couple at a huge table they snagged for themselves (they soon left) and got our food. I had a delicious beef and Guinness stew with chips and Brussels sprouts on the side. We hung out there for a few hours and then tried a few more pubs. Turns out that EVERY pub was lacking an extra square inch. We eventually gave up and got a few cans of Guinness and retreated to our flat. I finished my packing and cleaning and grabbed a few hours of sleep before the 5:30 alarm.

At the airport, we got to deal with checking bags, answering security questions, and filing for tax refunds. Then, our flight was delayed an hour, putting a big question mark next to our connection in Chicago. After a nice jog through O'Hare a la Home Alone (which I knew I'd have to do sometime), I relaxed on a plane back to Minneapolis. I was home!

Expat Thanksgiving

Now that it's almost Christmas, I figured I needed to get to posting about Thanksgiving. I had not spent Thanksgiving without my family before, so I was in for a new experience. It was also interesting to have Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving (although my Irish Politics professor wished all us Americans a Happy one!). All of the stores were open when we really needed them, so we didn't need to frantically get to the store before it closed at 4:00 PM.

Jenna came over from Paris so we could spend the holiday together! We ended up celebrating on Saturday because of the way our schedules worked out - I had class until 6 on Thursday and we went to a concert Friday.

As a matter of coincidence, one of Jenna's favourite bands, Kasabian, was in Dublin on the Friday she was in town. They are a British band that I like to describe as the post-punk version of the Byrds who grew up listening to techno every once and a while. Kasabian was playing at Dublin's biggest venue, the very new O2 Arena. All 14,000 seats were full for this show, and for good reason. They were very theatrical, incorporating LCD screens, short films, and even a man dressed as Vlad the Impaler (the namesake of their new single) into the show. It was a hell of a lot of fun, especially the 5+ minute Ole, Ole, Ole chant accompanied by 10 foot wide beach ball bouncing around the crowd.

Thanksgiving itself was a lot of fun. Jenna and I took over the kitchen and whipped up some magic. Jenna masterfully crafted some pecan pies, and we both got our hands in the dressing, lemon-garlic-butter-sage-and-thyme roasted bird (because of the oven size it was a chicken), brown sugar and whiskey sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. Jenna, 3 of my roommates, and I sipped on wine and cider while enjoying good craic and food.

Christmas in Dublin

Christmas in Dublin...it's like 'Christmas in Killarney' by Bing Crosby except in Dublin instead. Christmas makes Dubliners happy, as it does all over the Anglophonic world. Here are some pictures I've taken of the decorations:

Some of the things that Irish people love to do are eat and drink. On the beverages list are hot port and hot whiskey (lemon, sugar, cloves, and liquor). The favorite sweets include mince pies (tiny pies filled with sugary fruit), Christmas pudding (fruitcake soaked in liquor and lit on fire upon presentation),and Cadbury chocolates. Really, anything sweet will do here! They also play with crackers a lot. At Christmas parties, two people will hold either side of what looks like a giant paper candy and pull apart. Turns out, it makes a big popping noise and smells a little bit like a burned match afterwards (you can't bring these things on planes). Out pops a dumb little toy and a tissue-paper crown. If the side you're holding onto after the explosion is larger, then you put on the crown and claim the winnings - it's like a wishbone.

Last Day in Copenhagen, Last Big Trip of Europe

Sunday morning meant another appointment with our favorite bakery. Today, we indulged in Danish Danish. Once again, they were fantastic.

There are a series of large parks that our bus drove by on the way to the city, and we decided to investigate. The one John and I ended up in was a botanical garden. Different sections of the park had different geographic themes from Asia to America. It was a misty and chilly day, but it was a nice enough park that it was bearable (well, more than bearable). In the centre of the park, unknown to us when we went into it, was a huge complex of greenhouses. Most looked to be used by the nearby Copenhagen University and locked to the public on Sundays (including a long room of peculiar cacti), except the main greenhouse. It was a fairly old building, almost Victorian-esque. Inside was a rainforest! It was like Rainforest Cafe without the stuffed animals and thunderstorms. Seriously though, the rooms were overrun by palms and fruit trees. One of the rooms had a plant alluded to in the Bible (or so says Catholic-high-school John), but it's sign was separated from its trunk and we couldn't find the plant. The whole experience was made better by the fact that it was nice and warm in there.

Past the next big road, in the next big park, we went to the National Art Museum. In my previous post, I may have said we went to this but I really meant the National Museum. In keeping with the theme of oil=bad, there were a number of exhibits that highlighted the earth around us and all its natural splendor. There was a huge exhibit made of hanging pouches of air with water plants floating in them that I think was a progression from the earth's birth to death. Strangely enough, there was a Danish Jazz concert (for charity? - maybe against climate change?) catered towards families with young children. Besides viewing some drawings from the Netherlands and some Danish art, I got a coffee at the cafe (I felt a headache coming because of my hour and a half awake without it). The best part of the cafe was the fun mug the coffee came in and the table decor - vases with paintbrushes instead of flowers.

Central Copenhagen isn't really that big, so it may be a logical truth to say this, but we were pretty close to the Amalienborg Palace that we had seen only in the dark the night before, so we went back. We took some pictures, watched the guards march back and forth, and admired the large equestrian statue of King Fredrick V. As I could more clearly see in the light, there were 4 large houses that formed the palaces in an octagon around the roundabout. From there, it was just a hop, skip, and jump up to the Kastellet and the Little Mermaid Statue.

Yes, Hans Christian Anderson was Danish and he created the Little Mermaid. So those crazy Danes put up a statue on the banks of the canal of the Little Mermaid so that thousands of tourists would walk and take pictures by it. Apparently November 22 is not a big tourist day, because there were about a dozen people there. I was handed a camera and asked to "make a picture" of a Dutch couple - isn't it funny when people try to speak English well? Maybe they were in Denmark to learn. The statue was nice, but kind of unimpressive. We knew that going in though. Next door was what we really wanted to see - the Kastellet. It was a fortification built in the 1660s. It it a huge pentagram made of earth surrounded by a moat. The edges of the pentagram are really steep - more than 45 degrees. Nowadays, it is just a park, although there are some military officers who still live there. There are statues of Greek gods and former kings along with war memorials and a windmill from the 1850s (a self-sufficient military installation needed to grind flour, too you know!). This place was massive. Being a late Sunday afternoon, there were not many people there. That made this former barracks kind of spooky, but not too bad.

We made it back to the top-heavy church just before 5 PM. It closed at 5. We had a chance to go in though. It (my research tells me that it's Frederik's Church, or the Marble Church) was lit by candlelight and nearly empty. There were lots of church-like murals on the walls and they were fantastic. They can't match the other world's best churches I saw on my trip, but they were really good.

We went back to the pedestrian street to find the friend we were staying with (who was at school working) and found a relatively cheap dinner. We walked around Chistianhavn, the canal district modeled after Amsterdam, afterwards. This was mostly just seeing a few pretty churches, fancy office buildings, and houses that young professionals live in. We ended up walking past Christiania again and seeing a large wall of murals its inhabitants painted. We hopped on the punctual bus, went back to the apartment, and got ready to leave in the morning. We woke up far to early to be mentioned and went to the airport, where John and I said, "Goodbye Scandinavia!" I made it back just in time for class! How exciting...

A Big Day in Copenhagen

There were elections in Denmark sometime around the time of my trip, which meant lots of campaign signs. I can't find anything about when they were, but I did find a sign for someone of my clan running for office. Too bad she is a Social Democrat.

If it was any question based upon the name of a popular breakfast pastry, breakfast in Copenhagen was very good. On the way to our bus stop (to get to the city centre) we saw the sign of great things to come: the golden pretzel sign. That's the sign of a bakery. John and I bought half of kringle (which wasn't quite like the kringle my mother makes most Christmas mornings). There was no real filling, but it was supremely moist and creamy while still flaky.

Walking through the city centre on the main pedestrian street, we ran into an exhibition about green energy - biomass, wind, water, solar (yeah, right 55 degrees north latitude...). They were giving away hot chocolate too! I was a bit shocked when they served it in the epitome of unsustainable materials, styrofoam. At this point, I started sensing a theme of sustainable energy in my weekend in Copenhagen.

We made our way to the Tivoli Gardens - one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. With Christmas a month away, it was all decked out with holiday cheer. There were some rides in the park, but they were expensive, so John and I stuck to the seeing of sights. For a reason unknown to me, there was a parade of youth dressed as Danish beefeaters and (maybe?) literary figures, but none of them looked particularly happy. Once those fun-suckers were gone, the shops and decorations exuded a merry attitude. The Christmas decorations were just superimposed on the park that was already there, though. There were several different sections, each with a different theme. I saw the Orient, India, and traditional Scandinavia. There was also something that proved to be undeniably awesome, although supremely confusing: the Trojan Reindeer. It was probably 30 feet tall and made out of wood and just in the middle of the park. I didn't get the story on it, but it was kinda sweet! Also confusing was the floating ice island in the koi pond inhabited by snowmen.

We found it kind of hard to find traditional Danish food in Copenhagen. I'm sure it was somewhere, but there can't be a large amount of it. There is American, Asian, Mid-Eastern, etc, but they seemed to have moved beyond potatoes and Smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches). It was profoundly disappointing not to see tall, blond people chowing down on smoked herring Smørrebrød. But, John and I found some great traditional Danish food in Tivoli. We started with some Æbleskiver, which are similar to pancakes, except shaped into small balls by a special hemispherical pan. They are served with (at least at Tivoli) powdered sugar and raspberry jam. Man, were they good - just get a cup of good coffee with them and you're set. Next, we NEEDED smørrebrød. It was almost an obsession at this point. We got to a sit-down restaurant in the park and found some. The menu, though, was in all Danish. Using our superior skills of logical deduction and Latin roots, we kind of figured out what some of the smørrebrød were made with. John was boring and got a roast beef one, but I was exciting and ordered a liverwurst, bacon, pickles, and picked beet one. Good choice, Alex! It was almost the perfect meal - but it didn't come with a blank check made out to me (this was also the point at which I realized I was not an Irish politician).

On the way out of Tivoli, we walked by the wonderful city hall building. It was very typical of Copenhagen architecture - red brick and an oxidized copper spire - and very beautiful. Just down the street (as if Tivoli and city hall weren't enough) was the Danish Design Centre. It had to be one of the coolest museums I've been to, even though it was fairly small. The first main gallery was focused on praxis (putting theoretical knowledge into practice) in creating productive urban spaces. I didn't figure out how some parts fit into this mold, but all parts were very cool. The highlights included: a quiz you could take to determine how active you would be for your neighborhood (I was a downright scary revolutionary), swings hanging from the ceiling, free Danish flag tissue paper, some art, white spaces, and above all a series of spinny things that look like they were stolen from a carwash. When you walked by them, they started spinning, encouraging you to run through them like a child through a sprinkler. On the edge of the next gallery were about a dozen scaled sculptures of new concepts for buildings created by the Danes. There were things like building that corkscrewed as they went up to avoid wind sheer and formed canopies over shady central courtyards. Upstairs, there was a large exhibit on the electric car. To see the videos for it, you 'made your own power' by blowing on a small windmill to charge a small card that you connected to the monitors along the way. And, as always, the gift shop at the end was full of really cool things that I didn't quite like enough to buy.

Very near to the Design Centre is the National Museum of Denmark, where we went next. The main exhibition was a walk-through of Danish history. I learned many things about the Danish kingdom and its history. For example - Denmark and Norway were a joint kingdom for several hundred years. I saw a house like the one that my Danish ancestors might have lived in. One of the houses from Christiania that was donated a few years ago was also there. There was also a long struggle with democracy there as well. Just as we got to the last of the galleries, the museum was closing, so we looked at the shop. I bought a Danish cookbook, partly because one of the recipes was called Burning Love (mashed potatoes with fried pork and onions on top).

That night, I looked on my tourist map at the top 20 sight-seeing adventures (original, I know). The first one listed alphabetically was Amalienborg. I wasn't sure what it was, but we went. As it turns out, that's the palace of the royal family. The complex is made up of several ornate buildings around a huge roundabout (that people are allowed to drive through) with the statue of a king on a rearing horse in the centre. Every 100 yards or so was a guard marching quietly, dressed like the guards at the English palaces. Across the street from the complex on one side was an incredibly awkwardly proportioned church. It was about 80% dome, 10% steps, and 10% church. The thing was looked massive, although I'm sure the scale made it look bigger. On the other side was a little courtyard that looked across the river/canal (I'm not really sure what it was) towards one of Denmark's modern architectural wonders, the Opera House. There wasn't much to do there besides look at stuff, so we started to walk back. We spent the rest of the night having a few Christmas beers (that's right - they brew a beer especially for Christmas. The day that they release it for the season, they hand out a tonne of it free too!) and watching silly American TV shows like the Office.

PS - here is some photo proof of the crazy amount of bicycling that goes on in Copenhagen.

PPS - I made some Burning Love last week and it was great.

The Motherland!

Tied for number one on my list of places to go in Europe were Edinburgh and Copenhagen. As you know, I already went to Edinburgh. On Nov 20th, my friend John (from Wash U who is at University College Dublin) and I went to Copenhagen, where we had another Wash U friend studying (free lodging!). In the run-up to the trip, I realized I was a lot more Danish than I thought I was. The best I can tell, I'm 1/4 Danish, which is probably close to the most of any one of my ancestries. The stewardesses even started speaking to me in Danish when I got on the plane in Dublin. On top of that, I was Denmark once in Model UN. It's also a beautiful, sustainable, and bustling city. I was so excited for the plane to land. But the landing was full of trepidation. The airport is on a very small island next to Copenhagen and the runway nearly begins in the water, making it look like we were going to need to find the flotation device located underneath our seats.

My first impressions of Denmark were fantastic. The Danes are famous for design and architecture, and the airport is thusly beautiful. They are also famous for LEGOS, the best toy ever. They are also famous for sustainable energy, as evidenced by the large wind farm in the bay outside Copenhagen. The legos and windmills combined in the airport to form an awesome 10 foot high model of a wind turbine made from the blocks. I can hope that this is there all the time, but it could just be that the world climate change talks (COP15) are happening in Copenhagen starting December 7th (T-minus 1 day).

I quickly learned that there is no need to ever learn Danish. Everybody speaks better English than your high school English teacher, which helped out when I couldn't figure out how to use the non-English Metro ticketing machine. They don't even judge your when you have no knowledge of their language, they just happily switch over. I've heard rumors from American students that Danish is actually non-existent: Danish people just make noises at each other when they sense Americans around - to throw them off the scent.

Once we made it off the Metro at Nørreport station, we walked through the longest web of pedestrian streets in Europe. The buildings in Copenhagen are marked by red stone, elaborateness, and spires. Having not eaten since the morning I was starving. John and I found the best thing ever: the Fransk hot dog. In the hot dog stands found at nearly every corner, they sell these unique variations on the hot dog. They poke a hole in the end of a long "French" loaf of bread, squirt in remoulade (the Danes' flavoured mayo) and stick in the hot dog. I was beginning to love Copenhagen.

We made it to Baresso Coffee, a Danish Starbucks equivilent, to wait for our friend to get out of class. The Danes drink more coffee per capita than ANYONE, 4 cups a day, and because of that, it is really good. It is also very expensive, but EVERYTHING is expensive there. Don't let the currency fool you (where 7 Danish kroner equal 1 Euro); it's like buying pineapples in Alaska, except in Copenhagen and the pineapples are everything.

With the sun waning fast (since we were at the 55th parallel above the equator and it was nearly 3:45), Nick, John and I went to possibly the most interesting place to see in Denmark - Christiania. This is a 40 hectare area in Copenhagen that was a run down barracks in the 70s, until hippies, artists, and recovering addicts stormed it. Ever since then, they've claimed Christiana as a Free State and run their own community. Besides the occasional raid by Danish police, it's pretty autonomous. Autonomous enough to openly and clearly sell hash on the side of the road. They have flea markets, music venues, and homes there. I have no pictures because there were signs every 5 feet reminding you not to take any. I've heard stories of people's fancy SLR cameras being knocked to the ground 'accidently' when the photographer is framing a shot. Christiania is a weird place, but it seems like it's kind of been a successful commune. Only in Scandanavia.

For a cheap dinner, we went to find some schwarma. That was the best kebab I've had. We found the one store that sells things for cheap (think Aldi) for some fruit and beer and made the bus trip to Nick's place, which is about 4 miles from the city centre. Public transit here is great. There is an extensive bus network and several different categories of trains that form a web through the metropolitan area. Beyond that, there are bike paths next to every road - separated from the car streets by a kind of half-curb - and thousands of bikes everywhere you look. Nick claimed to have 3, all of which disappeared during the time we were there. We went to hang out with some of the American students in his program and had a good time. On the way back though, I learned the 1 bad thing about Copenhagen: racism. We were asked by a young black guy if we knew the bus system. Nick did and helped him out. This kid had been passed up by half a dozen buses he waved down, purportedly because he was black. Even though he was half Danish, he was treated as an outsider and non-person. He had lived the US for a while and was nearly begging to get back. He was articulate and personable, and it seemed to get him nowhere in Copenhagen. He actually might be the Danish Malcolm X in a few years, after his speech about how if we all cut our arms we would bleed the same colour. That was a sobering experience. A place can't be all good after all.

Aside from that incident, the first day in Copenhagen was amazing. I felt like a puppy bounding through a field!

There is a Model of a Cloned Sheep

Saturday in Edinburgh started deliciously. My host said that we HAD to go to a little cafe called Urban Angel (PS - I just pulled up that website and few seconds later thought there was a bird in my kitchen No, it's just the sound for the site) because of its awesome French toast and hot chocolate. That's enough to convince me, so we went. It also gave me an excuse to walk through New Town, a famously well-planned Georgian area. As it turns out Urban Angel sources as much of their food as they can, using local providers and organic options for their more exotic ingredients. The French toast and its accompanying exotic topping (MAPLE SYRUP!!!! No maple trees in the British Isles, so this was a treat) were not to die for, but at least worth fainting for. It was so good I got my picture outside.

If I hadn't gotten enough sustainable and artisan food already, we went over to Castle Market (a farmers' market in the shadows of the Castle). Since it was Scotland, there were a lot of beef, cheese, lamb, and woolen products. It was a fun little market. Next, I went through an area called Grassmarket in Old Town. It's a more homely and intimate version of a shopping street, and in the main square at the end, they used to hang people. Uplifting! There were free tours (where they would try to rope you into extended, unfree tours) all through the square, so I picked up on the death theme and the significance of the pub The Last Drop. Grassmarket leads you back towards St. Giles' Cathedral. Since my host's friend who was with us is a grad student in Biblical Studies, he had something sweet to show us.

The asphalt underneath a van? That's not sweet! But when you realize that this car park used to the be church gardens, it has the potential to be more interesting. The yellowish square above the numbers is where the headstone of John Knox was before the asphaltation of the gardens. The founder of Presbyterianism is buried there. Nice little find that I wouldn't have seen without knowing a graduate student in theology.

Feeling my roots (however small) as a Scotsman, I wanted to go to the Scottish Museum. I could see the relics of my great (x a few dozen) grandparents! Inside there were a several very interesting pieces, like an ancient harp and charts showing the migration and historical homes of clans. I began to learn that Scotland was very similar to Ireland, except Scotland is more ambivalent towards England (since, essentially, Scotland conquered England instead of the other way around - in my reductionist estimation). There were a lot of exhibits for the entertainment of the children/immature college students. There were small catapults, agility games, and other energy wasters. There was a rotating model of the first cloned sheep, Dolly as well. That hurts my brain to think about - a model of a clone. There was a big section on industrialisation and distilling, mirroring 2 important aspects of Scottish culture - blackened buildings and scotch.

Lunch was the next topic. I got pigeon salad. Pigeon is delicious, by the way. We were very close to where JK Rowling wrote most of the first Harry Potter books, the Elephant House, so we stopped by and looked. The seat where she supposedly sat while writing it looked out on the Castle on a hill, and I suspect that's the idea behind something in HP.

We played some Cranium back at the flat for a few hours after that, realizing that despite the wicked darkness, it was only like 7 PM. I ended up walking around the city for a while, learning that everything closes at about 6 PM on Saturdays. There were a lot of pretty windows decorated for Christmas at the fancy department stores like Harvey Nichols. I found some dinner at the classy dinner chain Pizza Express (Milano in Ireland) and then, more importantly, found a deep fried Mars bar on the way back. Good Idea, Alex.

I ended the night here, and that essentially ended my trip in Edinburgh. On Sunday morning, I found some breakfast and hopped a train to Glasgow. The countryside in Scotland is very pretty, although not as green as Ireland. One little town we stopped at had a dramatic castle upon a hill. Below was a huge Tesco grocery store (think Wal-Mart). I assume that the castle was still armed to defend against the evil that is Tesco.

Once in Glasgow, I walked through the main shopping street, Buchnan St. I was looking for a warmer coat for the rest of the semester, and since everything is cheaper when you're not in Dublin (or so I thought until I went to Copenhagen), I figured I'd use my afternoon to find one. I found none. The main square in Glasgow was blocked off for a private Christmas light lighting ceremony, so unfortunately I couldn't admire it. I ended up at the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art. It was a fairly small gallery, but with some really cool art - especially optical art. The lines and designs messed with my eyes and bounced around the canvas as I stared.

I found the closest chipper, tried getting a king rib again, and failed. I got some fish and chips and went to the train station to get to the airport. I was flying back to Dublin from the discount airport of Glasgow - I think only Ryanair uses it. My flight was at 6:30 AM on Monday, but no buses could get me there early enough, so I decided to spend the night. I was reassured by the website Sleeping in Airports that Glasgow Prestwick Airport had benches without arm rests, providing for good sleep. I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep, playing on the internet a lot, and pacing the whole 100 yards of the airport. Yes it was that small. I made it home safely on Monday morning, without having been scammed, killed, or raped by Couch Surfing or sleeping in an airport. Oh yea, and I had a wonderful time in a wonderful city - Edinburgh. It was a place I might be able to live someday.

Friday in Scotland

It was Friday in Edinburgh, and I was very excited to explore the city. It was a beautifully sunny day, which seemed pretty lucky to me, and was in a similarly sunny mood. So far, I really liked the city. I got a very tasty scone and then made my way towards the Edinburgh Castle. Since the city is pretty small (geographically), I walked past a lot of nice sights on the way. The first was the Old College of University of Edinburgh, which was right across the street from where I stayed.

That dome in the back is Old College.

One of those was St Giles' Cathedral, the famousest Edinburgh church. It was here that Presbyterianism was essentially created. Solely based on aesthetics, it is right up there on my list of best churches I've seen. It is stunning! The contrast in the stone walls (from the smog of the past? Scotland has definitely not cleaned up their old buildings' exteriors) really makes it seem intimidating. It was free to go inside, where it was also beautiful - no pictures allowed though for the sake of postcard sales. A few feet outside was a big statue of a man dear to my heart as an economics major - Adam Smith. He is standing with a pick axe next to him, which I assume represent division of labor.

Only a few blocks down from St. Giles' is the entrance to Edinburgh Castle, the pinnacle of the city. The castle is actually a compound of several buildings housed within some ramparts that circle the top of the butte. I was really impressed by the vistas looking out on the city from the edge of the castle complex. On a small outcropping outside the main walls was the Dog Cemetery, where the pooches of royalty were buried. I visited the oldest building on the site, St. Margaret's Chapel, which dates from the 12th c. It was just a very small room with an altar and small stained glass windows. It smelled of fresh paint. On the other side of the complex was Crown Square. One side of the square was a war museum commemorating the Scottish involvement in the myriad British wars. The lions outside the entrance were sweet! On the other side of the square was the building housing the Scottish crown jewels. I knew but didn't fully realize it, but Scotland had been its own kingdom for a longer time than England. In the run up to the jewels, there were exhibits about the lineage of the Scottish crown, an subsequently how their James VI incorporated England into his realm and became James I of England.

At 1 o'clock each day at the castle, a single soldier shoots a (blank from a) cannon at the castle. He does the fancy marching and such, and a crowd gathers. I guess Edinburghers (or Edinburghites?) usually hear the shot, check their watches, and criticize its imprecise timing.

There are a few gift shops on the premises, which is to be expected, but there was one that was particularly interesting: A Whiskey and Book Shop. I didn't know those two made such a good pairing, but I guess it makes sense?

I made my way down from Castle Rock through some winding paths in Princes Gardens to Prince's Street, the main shopping street in Edinburgh. I walked up and down it and looked at the shops. I don't know (or care) if I've mentioned it before, but all of these 'main shopping streets' are the same. Champs Elysees, Oxford/Brompton Streets, Grafton St., Buchanan St, Michigan Ave, Madison Ave - they're essentially the same. There will be similar (if not the same) shops, Starbucks, and tourist stores. Unimpressive.

Next, I made my way for Leith - the dockside city. My favorite TV show - No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain - did a show in Edinburgh. They showcased the large amount of unique fried food and soda in Scotland, and they did so at a chip shop in Leith called The Mermaid. I wanted to go. It must be pretty good to be chosen for the show, and on a purely fanatic note, No Reservations went there. I walked over half an hour out of the city centre to get to this shop. I was going to get fried fish, potatoes, king rib (BBQ or Chinese flavoured pork patty deep fried), and IRN BRU (an orange-coloured soda from Scotland that tastes like both the best and the worst cough syrup you've ever had). When I got to the Mermaid, they were closed! 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon! What the shit?!? Disappointed, a took a few pictures and walked back, finding a couple bacon rolls (good, but not the same) from the next open shop I saw. The closed shop was almost made up for me the next weekend in Copenhagen, when the friend I was staying with lent me Kitchen Confidential, the book Bourdain wrote.

With the light waning (it was almost 3:30!), I went back towards Princes Gardens/Street and to the National Gallery. Once again, no pictures. They had a few galleries of renaissance and Italian paintings, pretty typical stuff as far as art museums go at this point - lesser known Rembrandt and Titian. Downstairs they had a collection of Scottish art that was fantastic. There were a lot of landscape and nature scenes that were very bright and eye-catching. There is also a semi-famous painting of the Ice Skating Minister from 1795. It's just a guy named Robert Walker giddily skating around, probably whistling, very cool.

Outside is the Scott Monument, to Sir Walter Scott. It is black as hell from smog and intricate as hell. At night it's lit up and very attractive. Apparently you can climb up it, but not the weekend I was there. The Christmas Market, full with ferris wheel, was being set up around it.

I headed back to my place to stay and hung out for a few hours. My host had a big project due, so was cramming in reading about women in diplomacy and west African genocide. I found some tasty chili at a place down the street called BeanScene. It wasn't Bobby Flay, but it was good. Later that evening, the guy I was staying with invited me to see a psychological thriller film that apparently is the talk to the town in the US, Paranormal Activity. It was a in a nice cinema like the Tivoli in STL or Lagoon in MPLS. The movie was good, although thriller/horror films aren't my thing per se.

Getting Serious About A Heritage Tour of Europe

I have a lot of different kinds of European ancestry, and I realized it would be a lot of fun to try to get to all the countries with which I can claim a connection. I had done Ireland, England, and Northern Ireland, and now Scotland was on the list. Nov 9-13 I didn't have classes (it was "reading week"), and after the 11th I had no commitments - that was when I had an exam in Economics of Less Developed Countries. On the morning of the 12th, I set out to Edinburgh, Scotland. Not only was I going to a new place on my own, but I was trying a new type of lodging arrangement - CouchSurfing. CS is a website where there is a community of people who look for/provide a place to sleep for other members. I joined and found a place to stay with an American student at University of Edinburgh. The system may sound a little sketchy, but is tremendously safe - and it was a great experience for me.

I landed in Edinburgh and immediately felt at home. The bus ride through town from the airport went by some very familiar feeling areas and dropped my off right in the center of the city. I got my bearings and headed for the Royal Mile, which is the main historical street/area in Edinburgh. I window-shopped the pubs to find a place for lunch and settled on the Mitre. Guess what I got. If you can't venture a guess as to what Scottish food I was excited to eat, you should get to know me better. Answer: Haggis. It came with neeps and tatties (mashed sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes) and a Scottish ale, and was delicious!

It was too late in the day - twilight was before 4 - to go to the Edinburgh Castle that day, so I walked down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace and Arthur's Seat. There were loads of shops selling kilts, scarves, and shortbread - all of which I enjoy (except kilts). Once I started getting out of the centre of the purely tourist stretch, I saw a really cool building with relief sculpture covering a side wall. As it turns out, this is Scottish Parliament. Yes, Scotland has their own parliament even though they are a part of the United Kingdom. It gets to decide most domestic 'Scottish' issues, as I soon learned. After putting your bag through an x-ray and walking through a metal detector, anyone and everyone is welcome in the Scottish Parliament complex. There is a cafe, gift store, exhibition on Scottish influence in Canada, and the Parliament chambers. Interesting note: Even though it's only been around for 10 years, Scottish Parliament has its own whiskey blend and tartan, and they are ready to sell it to you! I was able to get my hands on a free admission to the chambers to listen to the live debate. That afternoon was dedicated to Question Time, where members asked things like, "What will we do so that people don't throw their fridges away in bogs?" and "Why do you still allow for the inhumane practice of branding semi-feral animals in Scotland?" Interesting, I know, but I'm a pretty nerdy guy when it comes to government. And semi-feral animals.

Across the street from Scottish Parliament is Holyrood Palace. This is where the British King/Queen resides when in Scotland. I snooped around to several minutes trying to figure out if there were tours or anything, but there apparently aren't. I looked at its strange facade of variously-affected-by-smog stained stones and then went towards my next engagement.

Edinburgh's highest point, Arthur's Seat, is in Holyrood Park, next to Holyrood Palace (coincidence?!?!?). It is very close to the city centre, not more than half an hour's walk, and has a great view of the city. I made my way for the path that went up to it and made friends with a student studying in York originally from Hong Kong and walked up with him. Eventually, it started drizzling and he got scared of melting in it, so he left. While only 250 m. high, Arthur's Seat was a work out to scale. There were nice paths all the way up, but I still had all my luggage (a duffel bag with my computer, blankets, and clothing) because I hadn't been able to meet up with my CS host yet. After a few sit-downs, I made it! It was a really wonderful panoramic view of the Firth of Forth (the bay-type thing near Edinburgh), Leith (the city on the Firth), and Edinburgh. The landscape there in Edinburgh was very spectacular. It wasn't quite as green as Ireland, but the vegetation had a warm feeling to it. There was also quite a bit of jagged, dark rock poking up through the vegetation and moss growing on it. Along with the grey skies, the landscape looked very picturesque - not like a pretty and happy picture, but an interesting and moving picture.

After I trekked down the Seat (harder than you might think with a heavy duffel), I walked back through the Royal Mile towards the University of Edinburgh to meet my host. I got to his apartment and settled down for the evening. My host, Gabriel, was a really great guy. I had a great time seeing Edinburgh and hanging out with him for 3 days. A little later in the night, Gabriel, his friend, and I went to a pretty fancy pub where they had friends working. Because of that we got a great deal on dinner and scotch. I settled down in my place for the night and got ready for the next day.

The Baltimore Without "The Wire"

At the beginning of the semester, I joined the Environmental Society. It is one of the smaller societies on campus, and as I learned, made up of mostly environmental science students and postgrads who research plant genetics. Every year, the club goes whale watching in Baltimore, Co. Cork. This ain't your regular Baltimore, MD; it's a small, peaceful town with only a few pubs. I went along on the weekend of Nov 7-8. This was my first (and only) trip with non-Americans. There were about 20 people, and included a majority of Irish students, sprinkled with Belgians, Germans, French, South Koreans, and Swiss.

The drive down to Baltimore took the better part of the day. After a 3 or so hour trip to Cork, it took another 3 hours to go about half the distance to Baltimore because of the small, winding roads. Once there and at our hostel (at which we were the only guests), we found out that the owner forgot we were coming and told us to climb in the window to find the spare key. Obviously, this wasn't a place riddled with crime.

A handful of us took a walk down the the cliffs that line the entrance to the Baltimore harbour. Here was a 'famous' white obelisk called the Beacon that tipped ships off to the whereabouts of the harbour entrance, apparently difficult to find otherwise. This was one of the southernmost points of the island of Ireland. The wind was unbelievably strong. So strong that most of my pictures are blurry. The whole area was apparently a cow pasture sometimes, based on the landmines that were strewn about. It was a beautiful place to watch the sunset.

The folks at Casey's Restaurant and Hotel (listed in the Michelin Guidebook!) were kind enough to host 20 rowdy college kids (their daughter is a TCD student, so they may have felt obligated). We had a wonderful dinner (that lasted about 3 and a half hours) and conversation there. I learned that Cork is partial to Murphy's Stout, the southwest's answer to Guinness (a mighty good answer too). I had seafood chowder with seafood from a few miles away and beef and Guinness stew, along with the loads of mash, veg, and leek custard that were piled on the table.

So, this trip to Cork was 2/3 funded by the Students Union (nice!). But as a condition of getting the money, we said that we would do some beach clean-up or something (they didn't think that whale watching and eco-tourism was a good enough reason to front the money). After walking around before dinner, we realized there were no beaches. So we talked to the owner about cleaning up in town or something and she was delighted to get some help! She offered us rubber gloves, trash bags and some dirty areas (which we found to be similar to the poor parts of The Hamptons). She was so excited that she wanted us to stay for a picture for the town newspaper. Once we had our way of not losing funding, we went to the other bar in town and hung out for a few hours.

The next morning was our trip to go whale watching. BAD NEWS. It was too violent at sea to go whale watching. What?!?! The reason we came to Cork is ruined?!? Well, Captain Nick could offer us a discounted trip through the harbour and up the river to look for seals, birds, and otters (officially the cutest animal ever). We took him up on it and saw some great scenery, a whole lot of birds, a few seals, and a log that Captain Nick thought was an otter. Our suspicion was that there were no otters there ever and he was using them as a way to keep our attention. Interesting sights included: a small island that was home to a single male goat (his donkey friends were transported to shore, but he was forgotten about), a seal sunning itself on a rock, and a castle or church covered head to toe in ivy.

After a pleasant boat ride, we went to clean the town like the noble environmentalists we are! But wait, there was no garbage in this town to speak of! Our haul was mostly bags of empty liquor bottles thrown in the woods, most likely by teenagers circumnavigating their parents and the drinking age. We still got our picture taken by Mrs. Casey though, and we were instantly village heroes!

Our quick trip to Cork was over then, and we started back for Dublin.

Wrapping Up London

Hey, it's only 23 days late, but I'm finally finishing up the blogging for my London trip. Now I only have to write about trips to County Cork, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen! Not to mention finish homework and report on the strike tomorrow. That's right, the union of public sector workers are striking tomorrow. That means all university staff and faculty, bus drivers (maybe?), and such will be off.

Sunday was a sad and rainy day in London. My trip was about over, and I would have to say goodbye to Jenna until late November. We had about half of the day to make use of, though, so we checked out of our hotel, stored our bags, and headed out. Jenna wanted to see Charing Cross because it is home to the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter. Once we made a stop on that street, we realized how close we were to the National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square. We then went to National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square. The Portrait Gallery was expensive, and we were unsure as to whether or not it was worth paying, so we just looked in the shop, because art museum stores always have fun stuff to play with. Next door was the National Gallery.

They didn't allow pictures, but there were several famous and fantastic works. There was The Ambassadors, which is a painting of 2 ambassadors posing with several objects they had brought back from their travels. When I applied to Northwestern, this painting was the subject of one of their essays, so it was really fun to see it in person. I never realized how deep of a painting it was; there were minute details that ended up being very important, like a broken string on a lute representing fragmentation of society during the Reformation. Also, there is a piece of 'driftwood' or something in the foreground, but when you move to the right of the painting, it shows itself to be a skull. Very interesting to see completely different objects based on what angle you look from.

Right outside of the National Gallery is Trafalgar Square. It was a little monotone because of the rain, and because the fountains had been turned off for the season. Nevertheless, it was an impressive sight. In the middle stands a huge monument to Nelson. There were lions the size of trailer homes at the base and a several-story high pillar with Nelson on the top. There used to be a Nelson monument in Dublin, but someone blew it up...

After we picked up our luggage from the easyHotel and took our last walk around Paddington, Jenna had to catch her bus to the airport. It was very sad to see her go. I moped around to where my bus would pick me up and stopped to have a last cask-conditioned ale in the pub next to the bus stop. I rode for an hour and a half to Stansted Airport and got herded onto my Ryanair flight to Dublin (moo!).

Here are some miscellaneous photos from along the way, of the hotel, the restaurant we ate at Saturday night, and the Tube.

A Big Auld Day!

With Saturday came Halloween. SPOOOOOOKY!

The day began with a trip to the famous Abbey Road to see where the Beatles actually did the recording and, more importantly, the album cover. We planned on taking the Tube there, but this weekend, they decided to close down most of the important lines of the Tube to 'perform maintenance.' So we took the shuttle buses, which didn't bother us because they were red double-deckers. The area around Abbey Road is not touristy at all. It is a very pleasant and livable area. We followed the directions I found online and found the crosswalk. There were a couple other small groups of people doing their poses like the album cover and writing messages on the gates outside of the studio. Jenna and I worked on getting a good photo of each other walking across several times, and finally managed to get one. I imagine the people who drive in that area are continually frustrated by people like us slowly walking across the road.

After seeing the Road called Abbey, Jenna and I made a trip to see exactly where Harry Potter and Ron Weasley entered into the wizardly world on their way to Hogwarts. That's right - we went to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. The station was under construction, so the 'platform' was set off out of the way, enough that they had a sign telling silly folks like us where to find it.

Jenna and I left Kings Cross knowing that we were only muggles. We made our way to the Tower of London. The Tube stop nearest the tower was closed, so we got to make a walk through the Square Mile - the business district. The coolest building ever is there, called the Gherkin. We thought about going up close, but we could tell (from our experience in trying to walk to the Eiffel Tower - it is right there!) it was a long haul to get to it. We got to the Tower, which is actually a complex of 20 or so buildings, and bought tickets for a Beefeater (Yeoman Warder) led tour and watched the Asian tourists flock to the Fish and Chips stands like kids to candy. The beefeaters are very jolly and have sinister senses of humour. Our guide was no different. He loved to take stabs at the French and Americans, in addition to scaring small children by using his finger to 'slit' his throat while talking in a creepy voice. He also loved mentioning how 3 queens were executed on the grounds (2 of them wives of Henry VIII). There was a fantastic amount of history in that complex. For hundreds of years the sovereigns lived there and kept their most important prisoners there (including those queens, a few princes, and Walter Raleigh). The main building in the central of the complex was the oldest standing building I have ever seen, dating to about 1050. Inside was an extensive exhibit on Henry VII. There were rooms full of his sporting equipment, armour, weapons, and heraldry. The Tower of London is also where the Crown Jewels are kept. They are stunning. The gems are nearly blinding. There is a tale that 6 ravens must be kept at the Tower at all times or the kingdom will collapse. Being there (mere yards from where princes mysteriously 'disappeared' and queens were killed) on Halloween at dusk was creepy enough, then the ravens flying around at the top of the building dating from 1050 made it more creepy.

Nearby was St Paul's Cathedral, which is Christopher Wren's architectural masterpiece. A masterpiece indeed. It was so large that you have to go hundreds of metres away to see the dome on top. It was brilliant. This was the place that is immortalized in the WWII photo of smoke from German bombs wafting over London.

UPDATE:

I forgot to mention the great restaurant we ate at. It was literally next door to the hotel. Frontline Restaurant, as it was called, is put together by a group of journalists who have a mission that puts them somewhere between Amnesty International and Journalists without Borders. They own a farm that provides produce for the restaurant, and they try to get the other food from local and organic sources. I had a wonderful wild hare pie and Jenna had beef with hashbrowns. The dessert was probably the best part (duh), chocolate almond cake and lemon tart (for Jenna).

London was full of great sustainable food. There were several grocery store chains that highlighted free range, British (which means local for such a small island), organic, and fair trade. There was a coffee shop called Pret a Manger on every other corner that boasted no artificial anythings, real food, freshly made, and lots of instances of sustainable ingredients. There are Prets in New York (I hear) and I saw some in Edinburgh and Glasgow too.

The Day That Began With The Changing of the Guard

I heard from many different people that I HAD to go to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace while I was in London. It is a very quintessential thing to do while visiting the city because it encompasses everything England is supposed to be - full of strangely dressed guards, obsessed with monarchy, and full of pomp & circumstance.

Apparently, everybody else visiting London on this Friday morning also was going to see the changing of the guard. It was a very busy place. Jenna and I had been distracted from the palace (we were early) by the fun waiting in Green Park - this time it was lit up by the earth's big light bulb (the sun) instead of that one creepy street lamp. The leaves were colourful and were lining the ground, the weather was great, and there was a cool fountain. It had something to do with Canada - either as a gift to it or from it. Then, we heard clop-clopping coming from the road and we saw a large group of horses coming down the road with redcoated guards riding them. They circled the area and then left inexplicably. Their arrival did signal us to the fact that we should find a spot to stand to watch the real thing start happenin'. Before they did, Jenna and I played a fun game called "Based on what kind of car this person has, how important are they?" where we ranked the people going through the gates into Buckingham

Soon a marching band came into the area, and eventually entered the courtyard of the palace. After marching around a little bit more, a few musicians broke off into an ensemble to play classic songs like "Eleanor Rigby." As for the actual changing of the guards, there was ceremonial marching and one guard left as another came. There wasn't a whole lot more to it. It was simple, yet elegant.

I was advised to eat lunch at Harrod's, and to see the store in general. I had heard the food hall was a maze of glass cases full of the world's finest epicurean delights. How could I not go?!? When we got off the Tube on the very fancy Brompton Street, Jenna and I saw a massive red stone building with Christmas windows that make the weak faint and the pocketbook cringe. Inside, the phenomenon was even more pronounced, between the designer labels and the red marble and gold decoration. Jenna and I headed to the Christmas/Harrod's gift portion of the store and found some cool presents and candies. We then went to the food hall, which was everything I thought it could be. They even had an Iberian Ham bar! That's right, my dream of eating delicious razor thin slices of ham just sliced from the pig leg mounted behind the counter (with the hoof proudly displayed, as to show how good of a pig it actually was) came true. I had a feast on a little bit of the ham, then Jenna and I poked our noses around to find something more substantial. We ended up with pea and bacon soup to share, I got a pastrami ciabatta sandwich, and she got a ham croissant. Deelicious! We, the little children that we are, found the actual Christmas floor and looked at the shiny trees, lights, and ornaments. Shiny!

Our afternoon activity was a ride on the London Eye - a massive ferris wheel on the banks of the Thames. After waiting in line to pick up our reserved tickets, and waiting in line to have our tickets approved, then waiting in line to get into our pod of the ferris wheel, we finally got on the Eye. There were about 12 other people in the same pod as Jenna and I, including a few rabidly wild children who were far too close to opening the door and falling many stories to their death. There were also some inattentive parents on board. The vistas from the Eye were eye-catching. It really gave you an idea of how big London is, and how everything is laid out in relation to other things, much better than the Tube stops can.

That night, Jenna and I went to explore Oxford Road, which is one of the main shopping roads. I ended up buying a shirt on sale, and some shoes. I had wanted similar shoes from the same store in Dublin, but wouldn't buy them because they were so expensive. BUT because the pound is a lot weaker now than it was, it was much cheaper to buy them in London! We also looked for a piece of street art that was supposed to be in the area by the most famous street artist in the world, Banksy. We didn't find it, which was disappointing, but it was an adventure. After that, Jenna and I went back to the easyHotel and watched more British tele, which is SO much better than American TV.

London Part 2

It seems like when Jenna and I go on trips together, we then blog about the in rather similar manners. She usually puts up a post about each day before I post about the same day, but don't let that fool you! I am not simply rewriting what I read on her blog. I swear.

At easyHotel, they like to charge for wifi. Neither Jenna nor I like to pay for wifi, so we found free wifi at Costa Coffee - one of the 4 coffee shops that line each and every street in London. They also had breakfast for us! We figured out what we needed to figure out and went on our merry way to see really amazing things. Our first stop was the British Museum.

Here's the prologue for the British Museum: At one time, the British (specifically the English, because the Scottish were brutes, the Irish hated them and were brutes, and no body cared about the Welsh and their overuse of y's and l's), did whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted. They said to the world, "Jump!" and before the world could say, "How high?" the British asked their armies to throw them in the air instead. After a while of doing this, the British decided they were going to take whatever they thought was cool and put it all in one building in London where all Britons could admire it. That building is the British Museum.

The British Museum is massive. Housed in a neo-classical building (slash set of buildings?) near University College London, there are galleries devoted to Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iran, Babylon, the Aztec Empire, and Mexico. Oh yea, and Native Americans and Inuit. And probably more. As soon as we walked into the first gallery, there was a massive slab of stone - the Rosetta Stone! It was a very impressive thing to see. Without that, we would have no clue how to decipher hieroglyphics. Most people know that much about it (and that it is the name of a language acquisition program used by the State Department and UN!), but who knows what it actually says? I did not, but it turns out that one of the Ptolemys made a deal with the Egyptian priests, wherein the priests could keep on keepin' on and Ptolemy could start his own cult. "Cult" is the word used on the description tag, not my own biased addition.

We soon saw large sculptures of pharaohs, Egyptian gods, and other Egyptian things.

The next section was Greece. There were rooms of ornate sculptures, including a room devoted to Alexander the Great. Being a namesake, I felt honored. As you can see, I posed for a photo with him. It is called Alexander and Alexandre, Both Great. Also in this section is most of the decoration from the Parthenon! Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin (not Illinois), was in the area and noticed how poorly the Greeks treated the Parthenon, so he essentially said, "Children, if you can't play nicely with your ancient runes, I will take them away." And he did. There is an enormous room full of the sculpture that covered the top of the Parthenon, and it's amazing.

There was a whole exhibit on watches and clocks. There were pocket watches spanning the last 500 years and all sorts of mechanical clocks. One of these clocks used a small metal ball rolling back and forth as a second hand (very cool idea), but it wasn't very accurate.

One of the more enjoyable things I saw was a temporary exhibit on the cartoons, posters, and prints of Revolutionary Mexico. The "Revolutionary Mexico" that was being shown was mostly from around 1900-1920, as opposed to all of the other times Mexico had revolutions. These were great! I very much enjoyed the thick black lines of the woodcuts and the witty cartoons.

I ended up getting a couple souvenirs for myself there - a Rosetta Stone metal water bottle (so I can brush up on my Greek while hydrating myself) and a London Street Art book (because how could I not?!?).

Jenna and I hopped on the Tube and went to our next destination - Covent Garden. It used to be a fruit and veg market, but is now a shopping, eating, and entertaining arcade. There were entertaining street performers as well. From there, we went to Piccadilly Circus.

"The Times Square of London!" I had heard it called. Whoever said that had it pretty close. There were millions of people, bright signs the size of the Vatican, and advertisements for musicals everywhere. There's also a large statue of Eros, but I have no good photos to show for it. After walking around the circus and browsing souvenir stores for a while, I was huuuuungry. Jenna and I had picked out an Indian restaurant in the area that got good reviews, and we scurried out to find it. The food was delicious (I had garlic naan and lamb curry, Jenna had chicken tikka masala and naan, and we split veg curry). Once back at the easyHotel, we watched British TV. There was a show about the most famous English chef Heston Blumenthal trying to turn Little Chef back into a reputable roadside restaurant that was a fun watch. Maybe it's made its way onto BBC America and you have seen it already.

London Calling

The morning of October 28th will live in infamy for a long time to come. Why? I had to wake up at an incredibly ungodly hour. I don't quite remember when it was (since it was almost 2 weeks ago) but I'm guessing 4:30. If anything, I should be coming home at that hour. I was happy to do it though, because I was going to meet Jenna in London for 5 days!

I was flying Ryanair for the first time this trip, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had read article after article on bOINGbOING about what a shitty, miserable airline it was, but I am not the sort of guy to need anything from a flight besides a seat and a safe landing. Once I got on the plane (after jumping in line quickly to make sure I got a good seat - there are no assignments, and I didn't pay extra to go in the fast line), I realized I was on a flying flea market. From the instant the stewardess said, "This is a smoke-free flight," they were trying to sell things to me. Smokeless cigarettes, lottery tickets, pizza and burgers, beer, you name it. But whatever. I slept through it and CEO Michael O'Leary didn't even try to charge me for it. I flew into Luton, which is a "quaint" airport for cheap airlines about 50 km north of London. Jenna and I got on a bus and went to foggy London town. I was actually in London!

The hotel we stayed at was the off-shoot of EasyJet, the British version of Ryanair. Easy[hotel, bus, jet] loves the color orange. Everything was orange there. We had a great location about 2 blocks from Paddington Station, near a hospital, halal markets, restaurants, and chip shops. From Paddington, we could get nearly anywhere on the Tube (subway) very easily. Sometimes - 2 of the lines were closed all weekend, but luckily we didn't need them anyway. It was a hefty one time price, but we got week passes for the Tube. In the end, it saved us a lot of money and our feet a lot of unnecessary walking. By the way, I am fascinated with the Tube. The graphic design is very appealing, from the maps to the logos and the commissioned art in some stations.

First stop was the Westminster stop. This is where Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament that Big Ben is attached to, are Westminster Abbey are. I walked out of the Tube thinking, "Now it says Big Ben is right around he... Oh!" It was right there in front of me. I was standing at the base. It may be just a big clock, but it is a damn cool big clock right next to a damn cool building where many of the most important people in history spent a lot of time. It was a great spectacle. Since this is where the British government operates, this is where people come to express their opinions on policy issues, you know, like how the Freemasons are killing dozens of innocents. Wait, what?!? Yes, there were a few protesters across the streets demanding action in the deaths of several people at the hands of the ever-implicated Freemasons.

Also a great spectacle, although an expensive one, was Westminster Abbey. That's why they can charge a lot for it, thought! Inside, there was so much to see. There were chapels and shrines and tombs practically stacked on each other. There were several Kings buried around the place from far before my lifetime (to say the least). Admission comes with a really good (and for no additional cost) audio guide, which helped make up for my lack of knowledge of English history or anything Anglican. I didn't need any additional help to figure out that seeing the tomb of Elizabeth I was pretty damn sweet, nor that the Poets' Corner encapsulated a lot of the best writing ever (with shrines to Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Dickens, and more).

Jenna and I were in the Abbey at dusk, so there was a spooky, dark hue to the whole place. The spooky ambiance was helped along by the choir at Evensong. We sat down in the service for a few minutes, and soon proceeded to leave. There are no pictures allowed in the Abbey, so here are the pics from outside or snagged from the 'net.

After looking at how mesmerizing things look when they are colorfully lit up at night, Jenna and I went over to Buckingham Palace (coincidentally, another mesmerizing things colorfully lit up). We had to walk through Green Park to get there from the Tube, which strangely, has only 1 dim light in the whole park. It contributed to the now recurring theme of spookiness. As we approached Buckingham, I realized why there were so few lights in the park - the government blew the lighting budget on the 2 huge walls of lights focused on the Palace. They even rotated between blue, white, and red! It was an impressive thing to see, but there's not much to do there at night. Jenna and I would be back on Friday to see silly men in moleskin hats march around.

Back in our neighborhood, we found a reasonably-priced joint to fill our stomaches called Garfunkels. It was tasty stuff - sit-down restaurant type burgers, pizzas, and English food.

Oh Yeah, and Other Stuff

I was in London for the past 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday). It was exciting. There were impossible to find Banksy pieces and the ravens weren't there just for Halloween. Cliffhanger alert, this post is not about London, just a couple of things that I had forgotten to put in before.

A while (too long) ago I went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). It is a fairly small museum, because who's really heard of Irish modern art? Well, you might not have heard of it, but if you go to Wash U, you know. That's right, there's a surprise discovery in store for me and my fellow WUers at IMMA.

IMMA is in an area called Kilmainham, which is where the Kilmainham Gaol (that's Jail in English) is located, and not that far from the Guinness Storehouse. It's housed in the 300+ year old Royal Hospital, a home for veterans of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the pre-independence era. It was under renovation when I was there, so the main entrance was closed (which almost foiled me finding the coolest thing there) and it seemed like a fair amount of the museum's space was closed too. Nonetheless, there were a few impressive exhibits. One was full of pieces by artists reinterpreting their works that were already in the museum, which was impressive for its use of multimedia (except some of the originals weren't in the open parts of the museum). My favorite piece was in the regular gallery and was called "Above All Else." I had seen the name placard for it, but there was no corresponding artwork. The sly guy in my thought, "Wait. Above all else." I looked up and there it was!

I like textual art, and the clever little taglines that come with it, so this piece was right down my alley. I sat down and read about the artist and piece in IMMA's "curbside" study room and learned that this same artist, Douglas Gordon, directed a documentary about Zidane (the footballer who headbutted his Italian oppenent in the 2006 World Cup). I wasn't supposed to take this picture (that's why it's kind of tilted and abruptly taken) because of a no photography citing some shit about copyright.

That's something I don't understand about museums in Ireland and the UK. "Copyright" prevents visitors from taking photos. At first glance, this might seem like a legitimate concern. The artists of these works put a lot of effort and heart into creating them, why would you let people waltz right in and take pictures that could reproduce the work? Well, there are two things wrong about that argument. Number 1: I'll go out on a limb and say no way an amateur with a point-and-shoot (and probably not a fancy camera either) camera will be able to get a shot good enough to be a legitimate threat to the original piece. That's why there are 1 gazillion DPI resolution scanners and gift shops. Number 2, and this is where the crux of my frustration comes from: Taking a picture of a little art installation or painting falls under Fair Use. It is a non-commercial use (because my camera is sure as hell not going to produce anything worth selling), and for many it's educational use, whether for class or cultural education. Both of those characteristics make it legal to copy the artwork onto your camera. Oh yea, and copyrights usually expire 70 years after the artist is dead, so that doesn't help the museums either.

Now that you've scrolled by my rant, the awesomest part. You know at Wash U there is that ugly-ass bunny in the Thinker pose, and that you love it even though it's kind of hard to look at?

Well, when I walked around to see what was near the front entrance of the IMMA, I saw something that struck my eye as familiar.

I asked around and did some interwebs research, and just as I suspected, these are done by the same artist, Barry Flanagan. There actually used to be a copy of the Thinking Rabbit on O'Connell St in central Dublin. I came 5,000 miles to Dublin, and can't get away from the weird-ass rabbits that are in St Louis, I mean that in a good way though.

Also, I found a really depressing article in the Irish Times about how bad Ireland's economy is right now, especially for recent University graduates. Since it came out Monday, I've gotten 2 emails from my program directors with links and reaction to it and my Irish Politics lecturer has talked about it. But I found it first.

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Alex Christensen Oh, good to know - now that I'm stuck here for a month and a half more.

'Ireland is a disaster . . . leave now and enjoy your life' - The Irish Times - Mon, Nov 02, 2009

Source: www.irishtimes.com

On these pages last week, Shane Fitzgerald, a young graduate of University College Dublin, wrote about the Government’s failure to deliver on its promise of a bright future in Ireland for him and his generation. ...

Tue at 7:18pm · Comment · Like · Share

See? I'm on top of things. But more importantly, Ireland might be slipping back into the cycle of emigration that characterized it for 140 years. There is a horrible worldwide recession, but the Irish government and society are making it worse than it needs to be. In my opinion, and remember that I'm an amateur economist, this is not the time to be be parsimonious in public spending. Already 12%+ of the workforce is unemployed, and if social welfare can't hold them up for the next little bit, there is going to be a horrible loss of confidence and human capital in the country. And that's for the ones who don't leave.

Remember in the US last year when there was a bailout enacted very quickly to counteract the disastrous effects of frozen credit markets? Ireland hasn't done so yet, and their meltdown started before the US's. There is a widespread sentiment that the banks (like AIB) should be left to bleed, and afterwards the country can start clean. That may be true, but if Ireland wants to be able to hold the scalp of AIB in its hands as a warning to banks in the future, they will be doing so instead of working, on a block of deserted buildings. Without the credit that makes capital expansion possible, there will be no recovery in Ireland. All of the critics of the "degradation" of traditional Irish culture during the Celtic Tiger will get to revisit traditional Irish culture, this time without the rose-colored glasses. They will be poor, isolated, and begging the EU for cash because of the Government's unwillingness to step up and establish the National Asset Management Agency.