6 more days left to dream of a white christmas

so just when i was all caught up with the blogging, i didnt end up writing about yesterday! but it will be much easier using a computer this time! so yesterday we got up early and were able to leave our luggage in the staff room, as wrestler guy promised. we went to the theatre royal again and did that backstage tour. that was real good, our guide was funny. and he recognized my moms accent as different so he asked me if she called him last night and i said no that was me! and he asked where we came from and i said ny and he asked if we believe in robin hood, so i said of course =) and he said kevin costner was not a good representation of him! but during the tour he told us the history of the theatre and he took us on the stage and a bit behind the scenes. i saw some of the costumes from the sleeping beauty show in the quick changing areas. he also told us where the origin of some theater terms came from - box office because back before tickets, people had to put money in a box and that was their fee for going to the show. break a leg because the lever that used to pull up and drop the main curtain was called a leg and if the star of the show did a really good job, (s)he would go out for an encore applause, and so people were afraid that the lever would break if it kept pulling the curtain up and down so much, since the curtain weighed nearly a ton. then we went over to the concert hall and compared the architecture and design (the former being built in like the 1860s and the latter the 1980s). after the tour we went to the ye olde trip to jerusalem and had lunch. that is the oldest pub/inn in england (apparently..still confused about the ye olde salutation inn). we ate in the haunted snug, which, as the name suggests, was haunted! we didnt have any encounters though =( after food, we went to the brewyard house museum which was a museum on victorian life in notts, so they had replication houses and shops. they also had rooms of toys spanning the last 100 years, i saw my old gray gameboy! so after that, grandma seemed to be in a rush to leave (it was only just after 3 pm), but i had booked them on a 5:35 pm bus back to london and myself on a 6:35 pm bus to leicester, but i figured if we headed to the bus station then maybe we can change our tickets for an earlier bus. so we went back to the travelodge and picked up our stuff, went to the station and mom tried to get on the 4 pm bus to london. the ticket info guy said it would cost P40 to change! but for me since leicester was only 1 stop away, he said it probably wouldnt be a problem. so there was a 3:55 pm bus and i was able to hop on that so i was happy, otherwise i would have had a boring time waiting for like 3 hours in the station (and mom and gma had to wait for their original bus). plus mike and his mom were going to the curve theatre to see 42nd st which started at 7:30 pm so i decided i might as well try and go see it too, and the 6:35 pm bus would have got me in at 7:20 (assuming no delays..i wouldnt hold my breath!) so i probably wouldnt have had enough time to get to the theatre and buy a ticket. so i arrived around 4:50 pm and went straight to the threatre, bought a ticket and got on a bus to mikes, just in time for dinner! then we had to head back to the theatre and meet up with his mom. i wasnt too crazy about the play, the plot wasnt for me, but there was a  lot of tap dancing, which i never really saw before so that was cool, and the title song was good. so after the play, we hopped on the bus again (for me) and went home. so to recap the week that my mom and gma were here, it was pretty action packed, we fit a lot in and had to rush a bit, but they wanted to see as much as possible, so we made it work. i almost felt like a native because they kept asking me questions about english things, and i had to explain certain laws (for instance, i explained that at a zebra crossing, pedestrians have the right of way) and as i already mentioned, they couldnt understand the english accent from certain people, so i had to act as interpreter. it made me realize how much ive learnt about this culture in just over a year. i mean compared to the english comedians that i saw around this time last year in leeds, and i didnt get the jokes at all, to nearly getting every joke at the aladdin panto in leeds, and even understanding most in nottingham, i am quite proud of myself! lets just hope when i go back to NY ill understand those jokes still! so let me continue onto today: when we woke up at like 8:30 am it was snowing!! but unfortunately, it rained shortly after and then was sunny, so the snow did not last at all! what a shame! mike and his dad went to church to play guitar at the mass, and i stayed home and wrapped gifts. when they got back we decorated the tree. then we went to halfords and picked up lance. the front tire was fine! there was a nail stuck inside which was causing the punctures, but once that was removed, the tire was working normal again, so it was good i didnt have to replace it! so lance was working good as new again =) then mike and his dad had to go back to the same church to play for a church carol service, so i went with them for support. there were children dressed up as shepherds and angels and took turns doing the readings, and most of them were absolutely terrible. nice idea on paper, but in reality, kids suck at public speaking! so after the service there were refreshments and i had nearly every piece of cookie/cake on the table!! then we came back and had dinner, i barely was able to finish it all! so needless to say, there was no dessert for me. then i finally posted pics on facebook to supplement this blog, in an album called travels after uni. and that brings me to this very minute! we are watching some show with james may and he is trying to artificially create snow with dry ice and liquid nitrogen, and also making a christmas cracker with a big bang! so this is where im going to end writing, probably for a few days until we actually do something exciting, or i continue my travels again after christmas! dont miss me too much!

Finally caught up with all my blogging!

So continuing with Wednesday night, we ate our dinner at sams, that was real good (I thought anyway) and the ladies took the cab back and I walked with Michael and his dad again, then stayed with them in their room and went to sleep on a much comfier bed! Thurs Dec 15, the big day!: mike and I woke up at the ugly time of 7 am to get ready to be at the uni at 8:15 am because that's when we had to report there apparently. We got our tickets, then our gowns, then I went to take my studio photo and then we waited for the ladies to arrive and we took some photos out in the cold before the ceremony started. It was quite quick, luckily. NUs dragged on for hours and hours and I was bored off my face, but this was 1 short speech and then the diplomas. We had undergrads with us as well, I thought they would have had a different ceremony, more longer and similar to my NU one. After the ceremony we took more photos as I froze and then we went to the parkinson building for refreshments. The fruit cake was awful but the chocolate cake was real good. Then more pictures, I was getting fed up by the end of it, how many photos could we take of me in my robe!? I barely said two words to my friends on the course the whole time I was on campus! Then a professional photographer asked for a masters photo, and that took ages to get us lined up and perfect, he even told me twice to get into the back! I said no I'm ok here actually!! So he stood on the balcony and took a few photos then we did just our course group photo with the profs in the front row. After that was all done we finally dispersed, mikes mom and aunt headed for the train to go back to leicester, my mom and gma went back to the hotel to change, and mike and I went to return our robes. We saw the video of us getting our diplomas which was playing on loop. Then I went back to the hotel to change and mike and his dad grabbed something to eat and went to the museum. I later met up with them at the museum cause my mom didn't want to hold his grad present all evening, so I gave it to him there. So after the museum I left and went back to the hotel for a nap. Mike and his dad switched hotels so they had to check in, and when they did mike said there was a double and a single bed so I again planned on staying with them. At 630 pm we went to see Aladdin the rock n roll pantomime at the city varieties theater with Sabine and her fam. It was real funny and the cast also sang and played the instruments. Sabine gave me a pillow which she stitched my name onto as an xmas gift, which was very sweet :-) then after the play, her parents left and she came out to dinner with us at the corn exchange. Mikes dad met us there. We ate quite late so we couldn't get dessert cause the kitchen closed by the time the waitress came to take our order for it!! But everyone was looking tired, myself included so we just went home after that. I walked with mike and his dad to the premier inn and mom and gma went back to the travelodge. I woke up early on the morning of Friday Dec 16, to go back to the travelodge and check out. We were leaving Leeds at 10:20 am to get the bus to nottingham. When I arrived back at the hotel, apparently the couple across the hall had an argument and god knows what happened but there was blood on the door and the cops arrived at 730 am. They got the wrong room though and let themselves into my mom and gmas room! But they had the chain on the door so he couldn't come in. Mom and gma thought it was me! But when they saw it was the police they asked what he was doing there and he realized he had the wrong room. So I missed that fiasco! Then when I arrived we left shortly after and went to the station, nearly catching a bus to London instead. So when we got to notts we went to the travelodge but we couldn't check in yet so we said we would leave our luggage but the receptionist made a big hoopla about it, saying she could get fired if we leave it, cause they had no luggage room! My god! But our room was ready so we paid £10 extra for an early check in. Then we went to the Ye olde salutation inn for lunch which is supposed to be one of the oldest inns in England. After that mom and I went to the castle. It was a much nicer day than when I went a few weeks back, so you could see for miles!! we were in the museum for not very long before I realized I didn't have my camera!! So I very literally ran back to the pub and luckily the bartender had it waiting for me!! So that minor freak out ended very quickly. Then I ran back to the castle and we stayed there till it closed at 4. I saw more of the nottingham story but still haven't finished! Then we went to the tourist info center and the receptionist recommended we do a tour with this actor "ezekele bones" and also told me Joe pasquale who was in the sleeping beauty pantomime playing that night at the theatre royal was very funny. I hadn't decided which show I wanted to go to, either that or the Cinderella panto at the nott playhouse, but I took his advice and decided on sleeping beauty. And I also called up ezekele and asked if he was doing any ghost tours or anything and he said no but the next morning he was doing a backstage tour of the theatre royal. So I decided I would do that. So we went back to the hotel, then a little later the 3 of us went to the xmas markets. Then we went to the theatre to buy the tix. The only 3 seats available were in the balcony but we bought them anyway. Then as we were leaving we saw a sign for a motown show at the concert hall (connected to the theatre) starting only 15 min after sleeping beauty. So we went back to the box office and they exchanged their tix for the motown and I stayed with sleeping beauty. Their show ended later than mine though but I said i would meet them outside the theater. So we then went to Starbucks for some hot chocolate until it was show time!! I arrived at the theater but since I was now 1 person I went to the desk to see if I could upgrade my seat, which I did to the orchestra! I was at the very end though but I still had a pretty decent view. The show was great, Joe pasquale was so funny and ceri dupree, a drag queen played the queen. There were also 2 instances where there was a 3d screen so we were given glasses. That was cool, thy spiders and things were like jumping out at you. I didn't understand the jokes as much with this show because it was mostly local and I haven't spent too much time in nottinghamshire! After the play I waited outside the concert hall for mom and gma. They left early so to not keep me waiting, apparently they weren't crazy about the show. So we went across the street to the cornerhouse and went to chiquito for dinner. There was some uni xmas party going on cause they were dressed up in weird outfits and they had the paper crowns and Christmas crackers. My gma didn't understand their way of dress (one guy was wearing a kilt and another had a fake muscular chest thing...with nipple tassles!). When the waiter told us his recommendations both mom and gma said they didn't understand him, so I had to translate. But he heard them as he was walking away so he came back and said "sorry, I'm losing my voice!" And mom said "oh its not you its me!" But it was the same thing at that restaurant at the Hyde park winter wonderland. The waitress came over and asked how everything was and gma just smiled even though she didn't like her burger so I thought for sure she was going to say this burger is terrible or something so I was a bit surprised when she didn't say anything but when the girl walked away she said to me "what did she say?" So then I realized she wasnt being polite she just couldn't understand the girl lol. But anyway after our meal at chiquitos we walked back to the travelodge. Being 11:30 pm on a Friday night, nottingham was clearly no exception to the trashy English girls walking the street! My mom and gma were very appalled by the outfits. Gma even asked a girl (who obviously wasn't wearing a jacket) if she was cold and she said she couldn't even feel the cold. When we got back to the hotel, mom went to reception to sort out our luggage situation since we were leaving late tomorrow. When she came back, she said she talked to the receptionist and he was very nice and understanding. He said he would tell the morning receptionist that he gave permission for us to keep our stuff in the staff room. He said no one will give him a hard time about letting us leave our stuff, he's a wrestler!! So that was good that got settled and well that finally brings me to today, but I will write about it later, after its ended!

Halfway thru with December, where has the month gone!?

Ok so continuing with Thursday, after cadbury world I checked out the bourneville village for a little bit, I went to sedor manor and another old house that Mr cadbury saved from destruction. The sedor house had display boards and info books explaining tudor life and the function of each room and the furniture too. There was also a book on tudor home remedies for ailments. they all were very strange and involved cooking animals and eating them or putting them on your body. I'm sure glad we are much smarter now! So after the houses it was like 5 pm and dark and raining but I Hung outside the park for about 2 hours planning for London because michal talked so much, I didn't think he would give me alone time at his place to sort the things, so I just did it outside in the cold. When I eventually got fed up with being cold and wet, I went back to his place and we ate dinner and went to bed soon after cause he was heading down to London to catch a plane to northern Ireland with his gf, and I wanted to make the most of my last day in Birmingham. Friday Dec 9: I left Michals early, like at 9 am, and (getting slightly lost) made my way thru the morning rush hour to the central backpackers to drop my stuff off. So I did and then went and headed to the sealife center. I got lost within all the stalls for the German markets, it was never ending!! I got frustrated and asked the visitor center where it was and despite my bike helmet in my hands, the lady gave me walking directions so I had to carry lance up and down steps. But i found it from her directions so that was fine. I had a 2 for 1 voucher so I waited till a lady came in with her daughter and we spilt the adult price. I still paid nearly £10!! Can you believe it!? For a damn aquarium (and not the most extraordinary one either). I hope a good portion goes to conservation and not into merlins pocket! I really hate supporting big businesses! But anyway it was nice, there was a huge tank that had turtles, sharks, rays and other stuff. I wish they would have focused more on local fish though, they had a whole amazon section, and lots of fish from the indo- pacific, but not too much from around the British isles or even the red sea. They had Cambodian Otters and they were my fav! Soo squeezable!! At 1 pm there was a short 4D polar express clip, so I went to that. I never seen the movie but it looked quite cute. Then at 1:30 was the otter feeding so I saw that too. There was also a seahorse breeding program so I saw lots of little cuties!! And there was a shark/ray/skate tank. After the aquarium I went to the ikon gallery which is contemporary art which already says how the quality of the art was. There were 3 exhibits, and they were a bit crap. If this is the future of art then I'll be going on art gallery strike. Then I went back to the hostel. The markets were so crowded that I had to walk lance. When i got there I checked in and ate and showered. Not too long after I went back to the brindleyplace where I just was for sealife and ikon gallery and went to the repertory theatre to see sleeping beauty. I got there a half hour early, so I sat in the cafe and waited. During that time a whole bunch of kids, one by one came up to me, dressed as fairy tale characters and started talking to me, so I played along. Then jack (from jack and the beanstalk) gave me his can of magic baked beans! When I got up to go into the theater, I went to hand the beans back to the kids' director, but he told me to keep it! So after the play (which was real good, very unique and funny, but the main concepts were the same) I brought the beans back to the hostel. I had walked cause there wouldn't be any point in fighting the markets crowd with lance. But as I was walking I saw a girl pushing a bike that looked exactly like lance! Same specialized vita, same color and design, blue water bottle holder, I think she even had a black rack! It almost made me nervous (cause lance wasn't locked up at the hostel, just up against a pole in their back garden) but when I saw she had a fully inflated front tire, I knew it wasn't lance :-) when I got back, I went to the lounge and saw that Welsh guy who works on britains got talent, that I had met in Liverpool. We chatted for a bit but then he went to bed, so I went into the kitchen to cook my beans! I got talking to this Irish guy for a bit and then headed onto bed. Saturday Dec 10: I had to be making it back to leicester and I had a lot of last minute things to check and do before I went to London on Sunday so I didn't want to waste too much time hanging around Birmingham. I had breakfast and talked again to that Irish guy and another guy. Irish guy mentioned he was living in Edinburgh with his brother and I said how mike and I are going there for hogmanay and he said we might be able to stay over, if his brother hadn't already offered it to someone else, since he has a couch surfing account. So that was nice, I hope he pulls thru, cause everyone else mike has messaged so far has said no! At 9:43 am I left bham, I planned on stopping off at local parks/ nature reserves along the way, as well as a few reserves at hinckley, but only if I was making good time cause they were a bit out of the way. I pretty much went the same way as I did last time, but Michael led the way after nuneaton so this time i had to do it on my own. But at first everything looked familiar, so there were no issues. I stopped off at kingfisher country park, just on the outskirts of the bham city center. There was a nice river following thru it but the place was absolutely disgusting. Trash everywhere!! And people took their dogs there, I felt so bad for the poor doggies! So I didn't stay too long and then not long after (still in the bham area) I stopped off at another local reserve and that was so much nicer!! Clean, had a lake, had a recreational area, I couldn't believe the difference! I'm sure they are both managed by the council, so why does one get more attention than the other. If I lived in bham they would be hearing from me!! So that was another quick stop over, I just rode thru there since it ran parallel with the road, then I got back on route and continued. I also stopped off at a reservior a few miles up, and watched some of the boats from the sailing club (one was really struggling with his sails!!) But I didn't do any walks around the reservoir, just stood there for a bit then left. So I'm marching along. It was a clear day and no wind so that was fabulous. At some point I see a sign in this rural area saying come see our beautiful church, open today. So I thought ok why not. I can't remember where I was but it really was like in the middle of nowhere, 16 mi from bham center. The church had a strange name too, after an unpopular saint. So I paid 50p for a booklet about the history of the church but then put it back afterwards cause I had no use for it. The church was on top of a hill so the views from the graveyard were pretty. Then I continued on my way, didn't stop anywhere else, except for lunch not long after that church. so far this was the first time I needed to refill my tire since I left bham so I thought that was quite good, but when I set off again, the tire went flat immediately! I don't know what happened!! So I filled it up again and the same thing happened. And I thought oh screw it, ill get nowhere if I keep stopping every mile to pump it up. So I rode the rest of the way there with a dead tire!! It wasn't too bad actually, just sometimes when it was bumpy I could really feel myself shaking. So I'm riding along, passed thru nuneaton and remembered the route a little bit from there. So I didn't get lost until I reached the a5. I was only supposed to be on there for <1 mile and get on the b4668 but I never saw signs for the b4668, only b4666 so either the route name changed recently and I need to update my Google maps app or England just sucks when it comes to labelling roads. I'll go for the latter! But right as I got on the a5 I saw a nice little wooded area at a busy junction so I decided this will be my pee spot. When I was finished I hopped back on lance and I saw right in front of me, a sign for a service station with a bathroom!! I wasn't too bothered, I'm sure my spot was more hygienic anyway! So after going on the a5 for some time I decided to check the gps and see where the hell I was. So like I said I missed my b4668 turn off into hinckley and thus didn't get to see any of the reserves near there. So I just continued on the a5 until I got to the b4114, it wasn't exactly the wrong way, just more of a "(not very) scenic route". Lots of farmland around me, smelling like cow crap in some places. I did see a hawk or some kind of bird of prey though, flying above me. So it was a straight shot almost the whole way from the b4114, and by the time I had to turn off that onto the busy a road to take me to leicester, it was dark, so I rode on the sidewalk. I got a bit confused because I thought I was coming from the opposite direction so I was getting worried when I didn't recognize anything! (Which now that I'm thinking about it, obviously I would be coming from the west cause bham is west of leicester!) But I found it in the end. Arrival time was 4:52 pm, I did 43.39 miles (so only went about 3 mi out of my way by missing the hinckley turn off), max 24, avg 8.1. I called mike to say ill be another 1 1/2 hours, and then when we Hung up I rang the doorbell and walked in :-) it was good to see him again and to finally eat a normal meal!! I woofed down that stir fry and pumpkin pie! Unfortunately I had to be up early to catch a 6:05 am bus to London, so our time together was short lived. My mom called, the fam was over for a little goodbye get together. She said she would be taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel in London, even though I suggested she take the underground and my aunt suggested heathrow express/connect. So soon after I went to bed. Sunday Dec 11: after only getting like 5-6 hours sleep i got a cab and went to the coach station. I arrived at 5:40 am and saw the bus already there so I went to show the driver my ticket and he said that was a 5:40 bus to London. Wow, pretty early!! And the station wasn't actually open yet so I had to wait outside for the bus, as annoying teenagers walked home from their night out. As soon as i got on the bus I went straight to sleep and woke up not too much before we had to arrive in Victoria. I arrived at like 8:40 am and walked to the hotel, but had some trouble finding the place cause the street is numbered strangely. But I found it, although I couldn't check in so I Hung around the lobby waiting for mom and grandma. They came around 11 cause they ended up taking the heathrow express which they loved but then they took a bus from picadilly to Victoria and then asked a taxi driver to take them to the hotel and he said no, its right there, just walk. so we checked in and didn't have too much time cause we had to be at harrods at 11:45 for the lunch part of our tour. So I said let's just take a taxi cause we prob won't make it if we try the underground. So we got there just before 11:30 am and there were crowds of people waiting outside for the doors to open in 1 minute! I couldn't believe the madness, it was something out of jingle all the way or any other Christmas shopping movie. My mom and gma really liked harrods, they thought it was beautiful and wanted to go shopping. Good thing we didnt have time cause those prices were outrageous, £240 for a pair of jeans!? That shouldn't be legal considering some young Chinese child was probably sold into slave labor in a sweat shop and made that for less than 1p an hour. So after getting lost in that maze of departments, we found the Georgian restaurant and had our meal. It was either a choice of turkey or mince pie and mulled wine so I ordered the mince pies for myself so my mom and gma can see what it tasted like (they wanted to try a traditional English meal) so their turkeys came out in a few minutes and they had this whole fancy dish with a nice size slice of turkey with vegetables, potatoes and tiny sausages wrapped with Bacon. We had the bus tour part of the package deal at 1 pm, so we had to leave the restaurant by like 12:50, but it was 12:40 and I still hadn't had my mince pies!! There was a Canadian woman alone so she sat at the table with us, and we got talking to her. She is doing her phd in social psychology in London. She was real nice, she asked the waiter where the mince pies were for me! So they came out in a few minutes but me and the people at the other tables who were also doing the bus tour really had to shove it down our throats so we wouldn't miss the bus! And wow were those mince pies tiny, they were 5 bite size pies, covered in custard, and nothing else, other than the wine, which I gave to my gma. So that hardly was a lunch!! I wasn't crazy about them anyway (as I had figured). So we left quickly but again got lost in the store but found the bus, even though it was after 1 pm. So we had a live commentary as we drove around and the guy explained the sites and neighborhoods. We then stopped at the tower of London where we got on a water taxi and rode down the Thames to embankment and got on the bus again. The tour bus then took us back to harrods but the traffic was so bad that when we were a few blocks away, our guide said we were going to get off and walk. So we got off but my mom and gma had to pee so we just went to the Victoria and Albert museum (which we were right in front of) and went to the bathroom there. Then we checked out a few sculptures and medieval art and went back to the hotel. We rested for a bit and then we took a taxi to the winter wonderland in Hyde park. That was super crowded. They checked out the stalls at the markets and it started to rain so we went inside a restaurant for dinner. The wait time was 30 min so we put our names down and then went to walk around some more but that didn't last long cause it started to rain harder, so we went back to the tent with the restaurant. It was a bit of a wait but we eventually got served, and a band was playing which was cool too. After that we went back to the hotel cause they were feeling tired from their flight. Monday Dec 12: I woke up real early so I could go to the embassy one last time to get my new passport. I had a 7:45 am appt but I got a little lost so I was late but it didn't matter cause I still had to wait on line outside before being let in the building. I got seen quick enough and the guy at the counter told me there was no need to come in person, I should have just mailed the passport to them and i said I wanted it today that's why I came and he said we no longer do that. So I was really pissed off but he said it should be mailed to me within 2-3 weeks so I thought I could live with that. But I had to purchase a currier envelope from them for £15!!! Fucking pricks. Now I know why they were so uptight with security, cause even I felt like bombing the place. So that took way shorter than it did when I got my temporary passport so I had some time to kill before I went to my 11 am showing of the snowman. So I just walked around oxford st, regent st, and the area, checking out the Christmas lights, even though it was daylight out. Had a quick stroll thru the  hanover sq park, which is practically nothing, and slowly made my way to the west end. I stopped off at covent gardens to see their Christmas displays, which had a giant reindeer on the outside of the building. Then I went to the play. It was very adorable, of course there were lots of kids but they weren't too annoying. I was supposed to meet my mom and gma at Westminster abbey at 1 pm cause they went to brunch at Shakespeares globe and were doing the hop on hop off bus tour. But they called and said to meet at 2 so I decided to go there straight after the play and just walk around the abbey until they show up. So I got there around 1, I walked along the Thames, which it was a very nice day for, and then went to the abbey. I had to do a bag check and there were 2 lines, one to pay with cash and one for card, so I went to the card line and I said student price and the woman asked for my student card. Most places just say show it to me, but she actually took it from me and was like examining it. The completion date said Sept 2011 (thanks Leeds uni you dickheads) so she said she couldn't accept it so I said then I'm not going in. So for the remainder of the time I crossed over the bridge by the house of parliament, grabbed the worlds most expensive Belgium waffle and went to the Christmas markets at southbank centre. Then I made my way back to the abbey, met up with the fam, then we went onto the cash line and this time I showed my ISIC card cause I wrote on it completion Dec 31 2011 and that got me thru :-) so fuck you to that annoying cunt rag at the card payment desk!! We signed up for a tour at 2:30 pm, but walked around in the meantime. Another annoying thing was you couldn't just go in any order you wanted, you had to follow a route. So I literally ran all around the damn place just to see Darwins grave even though it was so close to the entrance, since it was blocked off. So the tour went on at 2:30 and lasted till 4. Lots of royal people were buried there so there were lots of shrines and beautifully built effigies. Then we went to the scientist area, where we saw Darwins grave anyway lol along with Isaac newton. There was a very pretty memorial to him too. We also went to poets corner and saw Dickens grave and either the grave or memorial to Geoffrey Chaucer. We sat in the choir and learnt about that and also saw the (something) to the bath where royal people get knighted. So after the tour ended, mom and gma went to their high tea. I stayed and looked around for a bit more, then walked to trafalgar sq to go to the national gallery. I got a bit lost so by the time I got there it was like 5:15 pm and the museum closed at 6 so there was no point in going in, even if I didn't see the Leonardo Di Vinci's studio exhibit. There were some carrollers singing just down the gallery steps in front of a big Christmas tree. So after I watched them I walked back to the hotel, along the right street this time. I waited for mom and gma to come back from their high tea and then mom and I went to a pub for dinner right across the st. After food I met up with neer cause he messaged me on thanksgiving, probably after he saw on my fb that I was in Liverpool. So I met up with him on oxford and regent st corner, we walked down regent st and saw the same xmas lights that I saw that morning (only they were much nicer in the dark) and we went to hamlets, or something, a toy store, and then the m&m shop where I wanted to steal some m&ms but there were 3 staff members guarding the containers. Then we walked to leicester sq, where we saw a homeless man playing Christmas tunes thru a traffic cone, so neer gave him a pound. Then we hopped on the train and headed to our respective places of rest!! It was real good to see him again even though it was short lived and unfortunately artie was feeling sick so she couldn't make it out. I've Hung out with neer on 3 continents now so we joked we will meet up again in Asia, possibly in Japan to see dotto! Tuesday Dec 13: we first headed to st pauls cathedral, we did an audio tour then a guided tour. I thought the art inside was much prettier than Westminster abbey. It had shrines and memorials and sculptures as well, but beautiful paintings on the ceiling. Admiral nelson and duke of Wellington buried in the crypt, so Westminster abbey wins there lol but you can go to the top of the dome, which was really cool. My mom and I went up, over 500 steps total! The first stop was the whispering gallery which was still inside the first dome. Then the next two levels were outside. It was very windy!! But it was good weather so we could see for far. After we went back down I did the audio tour of the crypt, then we hopped on the underground to tower hill. We went to the tower of London and did a guided tour right when we started. The guide, pretending to be a beefeater, was very funny. He took us around the grounds and told us about the buildings and their functions when built. After that we went to see the crown jewels cause my mom and gma really wanted to see it. It's pathetic how crowded it was in there. I hate how so many people obsess over people with money that dont even work to earn their money and don't contribute to making the world a better place, yet no one even thinks twice about all the hard working people in this world, or those that desperately need help (children in Africa?!!) But anyway after we saw the crown jewels we had lunch in the cafe then my mom and I went up to the medieval tower and saw king Edwards bed chamber. Then the place was closing so my mom and I went to the tower bridge exhibition where you walk along the walk ways of the bridge. Right as I got to the bridge though, it opened to let a ship thru, it was a fascinating site! And when we went up the walkways inside the bridge, it was night time so we got really good views of the lighted skyline. Saw st Pauls in the distance! Then there was a private tour going on but we stopped and listened to the guide anyway and he told a story of how a bus driver in the 1950s or so was driving the bus over the bridge as it was opening!! So he jumped the gap like they did in speed!! And the bus made it over and no one was killed. He was awarded a medal for bravery and quick thinking! But really, who designs a draw bridge and then doesn't put up barriers to block the traffic from continuing along when the bridge is up!? So after the walk ways we went to the engine room which we saw how the mechanisms worked to open the bridge. After that we picked up gma and went back on the underground to the west end to eat dinner and see priscilla queen of the desert. My gma wanted to try fish and chips but The pubs were very crowded so we just found an Italian restaurant to eat at. The waitress spoke Italian to us when we ordered our food and my gma said to her when she served us, "we are Italian but we can't speak it, isn't that terrible!?" and the waitress goes, "I am Italian but i can't speak English!" That was funny. So after food we went to the palace theatre. The play was awesome!! Some of the drag queens, you couldn't even tell they were men!! And wow was felicia sexxy!! That makes the second play I've seen with my mom and gma that was about drag queens!! After the play we were all tired so we went on the underground for the last time and then went right to bed! Wednesday Dec 14: we had an 11:30 am bus to Leeds so they went shopping around the area and I stayed in the hotel until they came back. We went to victoria coach and picked up the megabus. 4 hours later we arrived in Leeds and went to the travelodge. I had only booked a double room cause I thought there would be a couch with a pull out bed like my travelodge in haydock, but the woman saw we were 3 people and said only 2 could stay so she wrote down the names of mom and gma, so I was Just going to sleep on the floor but mike offered to have me stay in the room with him and his dad, even though there were single beds. They were staying at the same travelodge, as was his mom and aunt so that made it convenient when we all went out to dinner at 7:30 pm. So in the meantime I had to go buy mike a graduation card, and go to the bank and post office all in an hour before everything shut so I just dropped my stuff in the room and ran to clinton cards (or clifton?) and scribble. scribble had an ugly graduation design and clin(f)ton had ran out of their only design! For a city only geared towards students, there sure was a real lack of graduation cards!! So I had to buy a bday card. Then as I was walking to meet him I dropped the damn envelope and that was never to be seen again. So we went to the bank and post office then food shopping then tried to find the city varieties theatre, unsuccessfully so we went back to travelodge and asked for a map and saw it on there, so the hotel was really close to it. Then the females, except me took a cab to the restaurant, sams chop house, for our dinner. I'm going to end it here cause this post is long enough and it takes me like 10 min to stroll down to the bottom of it every time I open the app to continue writing!

Why can't people be born already 21 years of age?

wednesday dec 7: michal had told me about an art gallery at the university of birmingham so i went there first thing that morning. they had very nice paintings, mostly religious from the 14th-early 20th century. the newest ones were the ugliest. there was also a small egyptian exhibit. so i stayed there till like 3:30 and then i went to the student union to do some planning for the london trip in a few days. god i forgot how annoying college students are. just being loud and talking about the dumbest things. and prying into each others business. i was trying to ignore them but these two girls sitting across from me where just so loud! so i finally left like 2 hours later and i went back to michals and we had some dinner together and just hung out until it was bed time. he is originally from poland but hes lived in the UK for 9 years, so he speaks both languages perfectly. so he has a job as an interpretor for criminal cases and other things (these business companies ask him to translate some documents..i dont really know much about that because he didnt talk about it too much). he is studying law but actually wants to do maritime law, not criminal. but in any case he was telling me about some of the cases he has to translate for. one guy murdered his ex's friend because the friend persuaded her to break up with him! well obviously for good reason! and he was telling me all about the case. and he told me that sometimes when the cops dont have enough evidence for a criminal to be convicted, they ask him if that person really did the crime..and he tells them! but that cant be construed as evidence, its just for the cops' own curiosity. so he went on about that for a long while, until i went to sleep. this time around i was pretty warm, maybe i was just more tired than the night before. so thursday dec 8: i went to cadbury world. i had a 2 for 1 but because i couldnt find anyone on the line to split it with me, i just paid the concession. so that was a bummer. but nonetheless i enjoyed it very much despite the neverending stream of annoying little school brats. i got 3 chocolate bars along the way (there were 14 zones to see) and i ate those right up!! and there were a few free samples too! the factory started with the origins of chocolate, about the aztecs and how they discovered the cocoa bean and made chocolate drinks, and then the conquistadors conquered them and destroyed their empire and brought the idea of chocolate back to spain (the shmucks). then there was the history of the cadbury family and the origins of Cadbury, which was also a little movie. i swear the kids really pissed me off at this point because they were pushing me to get into the room to watch the movie first. i was thinking of saying something to their teacher but i didnt, but i may write to cadbury world cause they were realllly getting on my nerves and it took away from my fun experience! but anyway there was also the factory which showed how everything was made and packaged.  there was a cute little ride where you follow 3 beans through a world of chocolate (kind of like its a small world). then there was an advertising section which showed all old (and some new) commercials for cadburys. and they had a little music room where there was a mechanical gorlla playing the drums! then around the back of the factory was the bourneville experience which gives the breakdown of the village and how the cadbury family built it as homes for their workers. and then there was essence, which was another little movie about the cadburys and their invention of the "glass and a half" and at the end you could sample some chocolate on top of whatever you wanted. so i had toffee popcorn =) then there was a factory trail outside the factory where you follow the info boards and it points out the old factory rooms. so all in all it was awesome! i was sooo full after all the chocolate! oh and there also was a small zone for kids to play but they also had some computers that talked about the future of the cadbury company and their promise for sustainable factory working and for fair pay for workers in africa. ok gotta jet now!

Birmingham for the second time around!

Tues Dec 6: breakfast was included in my price so I went to the restaurant and ate there (just continental, nothing cooked). I saw American cheese for the first time since being here so I put it on my toast. It tasted soo awful! I remember a brit telling me that American cheese taste like rubber, and he was right, but it doesn't taste like that in the US! I got talking to one of the staff and he is studying in Birmingham but working part time and living in wall heath, so he commutes by train every day to bham! That's a bit much. So after I ate I checked out and went to the black country living museum in dudley. It was really fun despite the school groups. The place was so big I could easily avoid them. Not only did they have exhibits (which I didn't see) they salvaged old 19th century buildings from the surrounding areas and rebuilt and restored them, brick by brick on the museum grounds (and kept them in their original design). So they reconstructed a whole fictitious village and there were people in costumes in the shops and houses, workers at the chain makers, brass workers, bakers etc. They were all working away in the traditional method but like the bakers couldnt put their items for sale cause the practice didn't comply with modern h&s standards. So they were just baking for the show of it. A bit of a waste methinks! But anyway besides the school groups it wasn't a busy day which was good so I would spend like 20 min at each place I visited, talking to the costumed people about life in the 19th/ early 20th cent. I went to a small cottage, a workers institute where they had a small exhibit about the women chainmakers strike, a radio shop, tobaccoist, men's clothing shop (where you could actually buy old style clothes), motorcycle/ bicycle shop (that was my fav..they had some original bikes from the 1800s and I learnt that the woman's bike had the low curve bars because of the ladys dress!) old fish and chip shop (cooked in the traditional beef fat method..I didn't order anything!), an old school, chapel, some more houses, sweet shop and bakers, pub, and even an old movie theater, that played short films! I watched a Charlie chaplin silent movie, it was quite funny actually. So after that I just did some more wandering, went to the canal boat dock, and the nail makers. The woman in the radio and tobacco shop talked for quite a bit. After she ran out of things to tell me about at the respective shops we just started talking normally. There was an older couple (early 50s?) That I kept bumping into, they were always coming in after I was or vice versa. So at one point when we were in a house from 1851 they said to me "oh you're from ny" and I was like yeah..but I hadn't talked to them yet! And they said "we've been hearing much about you from the people who work here cause we've been following each other all day" and since the tobaccoist was the last stop for us we got talking in there to each other and to the lady who "ran" the shop. They were locals, so it was good to see they were interested in the history of their area, most people bypass that and do that in other areas (myself included..in ny anyway). So then I left and had to hurry to Birmingham. I was going to couch surf at this guy Michals house in exchange for him coming to the motley crue and def leppard concert with me. The opening band steel panther started at 6:30 pm so I was hoping to get to his at 4, so we could eat, I could shower and then set off. But I had a bunch more hills than I anticipated so I got there at 4:33 pm (left at 3:27 pm and did 14.27 mi, but already had 6.16 mi from going from wall heath to dudley, max 23.5 avg 7.7) but we just thru a pizza in the oven and I didn't have a shower. So around 5:40 pm we set off to take the train but it was delayed cause the driver hadn't arrived! So we went on another train which was also a little delayed. We got there in the end but just as steel panther finished so that was a bummer. I really hate British public transportation! But no matter, we saw motley crue and def leppard and that's what counts! They were awesome!! Tommy lee's drum set rotated on a steel wheel, he was drumming upside down at one point! Then he brought a member of the audience on stage and strapped him in and brought him on the ride. It looked real cool. After the show we took the train back and I was tired so I went to bed shortly after talking to michal and getting to know him some more. He was pretty fun and down to earth, which was comforting for my first couch surfing experience. I slept on his couch but I was a little cold in the middle of the night, but he provided me with a portable heater so that did me right :-)anot

Round two finito

Ok first and foremost can someone explain to me what "ta" is? A few people have said it to me and I think its supposed to be thank you, except they cut out the majority of the letters!? More strange british sayings. But anyway carrying on..so yes I went to a small grassland area with lots of cows and sheep. The river passed thru so I walked along that until it got pretty dark, then I made my way back to shrewsbury. I saw the Darwin gate and ended my touring there cause it started to rain. I went back to the b&b and just had dinner and warmed up before watching more British "cops" and then went to bed. So Monday Dec 5: I had gone to bed early the night before so I could wake up at like 7 to do some more booking and stuff for my moms trip cause at midnight my plan started again. But Michael woke me up at 12:30 am so I just did some booking then and there. 3 hours later I went to bed but I set my alarm to wake up at like 8 am cause breakfast was till 9. But my stupid charger didn't charge my phone and after all the usage in the middle of the night, it eventually died after I fell asleep. So I woke up on my own and turned on my phone and saw it was 8:50 am so I literally ran downstairs. At least it wasn't as busy as yesterday (I forgot to mention, there were a bunch of marathon runners on Sunday morning, which may explain why nearly every b&b was all booked up for sat night!!) So I ate quickly then did the parts of the Darwin tour that I couldn't do, like see the memorial to him and the bell stone, and I went inside st chads and asked someone to show me scrooges grave so I finally saw it :-) then I went to st marys church and that had a real greatly carved ceiling and lots of nice stained glass windows. One of the stewards got talking to me, she was originally from the US but moved to shrewsbury (of all places) and stayed there. Then I left to go to the museum. They were in the process of moving to an exhibition space at the music hall so a lot of things were missing, but nonetheless I saw the natural history, Roman and Darwin exhibits. Then I went to the castle. I went to the top of one of the towers. It was good weather at that very point in time so I got some good photos. Then I went to the regiment museum inside the grounds. There was a lot there so I didn't finish cause I wanted to start heading for dudley. So I left around 2:30 ish, went to the b&b to pick up my bag and set off. Of course I realized when I got to the b&b that my front tire was flat again. So this meant that it wasn't just my inner tube that got punctured yesterday, it was my whole tire. But I wasn't going to find somewhere to replace it then! So I pumped up and hoped for the best. So I took off at 3 pm. It was a bit scenic before it got dark, the area of leighton was pretty nice. Then there was a power station right after and that killed it. So this was a pretty stressful ride; my phone was near dying and I had a lot of turns to do, so I knew I was going to need my gps at some point but I wouldn't be able to use it if my phone died! And to make matters worse, I had to stop and repump my tire every 5 miles! The directions were written down on my phone but when my battery got really low I couldn't risk it dying and then I didn't know my next move so I stopped right in the middle of the road (this journey also didn't have any sidewalk for me to ride on) and wrote the directions down on the back of a receipt with a pen that only half worked, using my head light as light. What a nightmare!! But it could have been worse, at least it was a clear night so I used the moon as light a lot of the way. So it could have been rainy or windy. And there were a bunch of annoying hills, especially when I got to coalport, that was insane! But on the flip side, i wasn't cold!! And I didn't end up getting lost, I missed a turn off in coalport but I still got to the main a road in the end (whether I could have avoided those obnoxious hills..well I don't really want to know). So I followed signs for dudley and just turned right onto a road cause my odo told me to turn in .8 mi, but the st name was different so I started second guessing myself so I turned back to the main road and eventually decided I was going in the right direction but I asked someone just to double check and I was right :-) I was surprised that the man I asked knew where the hotel was cause like who stays at hotels in their own neighborhood. so I shortly arrived at the kingfisher hotel. It was a hotel/restaurant/bar/leisure complex all in one!! Which explained why the guy knew it so well. My arrival time was 7:10 pm, did 31.9 mi, max 28, avg 8.8 mph which is probably the fastest avg time so far, yet I did it on a half filled tire! So I checked in, I had the room directly across from reception so I kept hearing people moving around outside my door and I kept thinking someone was just going to walk in! So after my shower it was bed time! I was so happy to arrive after such an ordeal! So I'm going to call it quits here but I just want to remonisce on my trip for a minute, being that this is the last night of my trip. So looking back on my trip id say the place I miss the most is Manchester. Alex was really nice (even though he cruelly joked about getting hired as a bus boy in the gay village and leading me on to thinking he could get us free tickets to the dream boys stripper show) and Mmmmm the smell of the men going to the clubs, with their low cut tight shirts and tight pants.. Manchester was just sexy central!! But on top of that I really liked elise. I think out of all the people I met, she is the only one I would like to be long term friends with (maybe Alex if his English was better, and he didn't have such a crush on me). Maybe Paul Thomas cause he makes me laugh but otherwise we live in completely different worlds. And for the fact that there was always something to do in Manchester! Not even Liverpool had as many walking tours. If I had to choose somewhere in the UK to live (judging thus far by where I've been) it would definitely be Manchester. I should have just lived there and commuted to Leeds every day, its only an hour bus ride away! But ok no more now, time for sleepies!

Too much rain this week! Not good for lance!

So continuing where I left off in whitchurch..I left the tourist info center and did these 3 self guided tours simultaneously. Reading about the history of the buildings was nice, and learning about the clocks and the family that made them was cool too. all 3 tours led me to the church, so I went inside. It was no st Patricks cathedral but it was nice enough. So then I circled the town a bit. Then after an hour or 2 I went back to lance to do some parts of the Edward German tour that were off of the high st. But before I did those I asked two men who were vendors for the xmas fair if brown moss (mentioned in the Edward German tour) was on the way to shrewsbury. And they said "yes but you're going to bike!? It's 25 miles!" And I'm like "I know, ill be fine". And they were like "are you sure!? In this weather!?" (It was starting to rain) and I said I had waterproofs. So they told me how to get there but I first did the other parts of the trail, then went to the little park on the edge of town, called jubilee park I think. Something related to queen victoria of course! So I had a quick mosey then headed for brown moss and found it fine. It wasn't very big but it was nice for a short bike ride around. It was going to get dark soon so I didn't want to stay long anyway. So after a bit I headed for shrewsbury. The only time I recorded was leaving malpas which was 9:54 am but it was probably around 3 pm when I left brown moss. I had plans to see Hawkstone park (also mentioned on my Edward German brochure) but it was farther than expected. I did however stop off at prees __ heath, a NR of the shropshire wildlife trust, I had checked their site when I was in Chester to see some NRs that were along the route to shrewsbury and that one was on there. I never ended up finding the other two but probably because the rest of my journey was done in darkness! But yeah so I rode thru that reserve. It wasn't very big but the best thing was I saw a ton of rabbits!! There were some sky divers overhead, I didn't actually see them drop, just them soaring thru the sky with their parachutes and landing on a field close by. When I exited the reserve there were 2 men there so we got chatting and I told them I was from ny but I'm riding around and I got my typical responses from both those statements. One in particular couldn't believe I was doing it this time of year. I mean come on now, I think people are overreacting. it doesn't get that cold here, and it doesn't snow, so I don't really see much difference between riding in the winter or the summer. It's not like the summers are bright and sunny!! But anyway after a little while I was on my way. Passed Hawkstone but there was no point in going in when it was almost pitch black. This route was quite annoying cause there wasn't much sidewalk so I had to be on the road with the cars. I was trying to conserve my headlight battery, so I didn't keep it on consistently, but at one point when it was off I ran over a huge pothole and swerved to the right. Good thing no cars were coming. But the rest of the journey was relatively uneventful. Level roads, so always a plus. My feet started to get real cold so I stopped to double up my socks, and I've been wearing 2 pairs ever since. When I arrived just outside shrewsbury I stopped off at lidl to pick up food. There was a good deal for a "choc duo" jar- 750g for like less than £2. So I bought that, and bread and some biscuits. I then realized I bought way too much and couldnt carry it all, so I decided to eat right then and there in the parking lot! For whatever reason there were a bunch of baloons tied to the railing where the shopping carts were (and also where lance was locked up..he even popped one!) So this is where I sat and a teenage girl and boy stole the whole lot. I wonder what they were going to do with them? So after dinner was over, I shoved the biscuits and jar in my bag and the bread up my hoodie. It then dawned on me that I was able to carry the whole load of groceries, cause no matter how much of the choc duo I eat, the jar shape will remain the same. And there was plenty of room up my hoodie for a whole loaf of bread. But anyway, I passed thru the town center and made my way to the b&b (after getting slightly confused trying to find it).  I arrived at 6:45 pm, did 31.5 mi, max 21.5, avg 7.5. Even though my name was on the reservation, the guy said it was booked under Michael cause he used his credit card to confirm the booking, but that gave me a bit of a fright at first when he said that i wasn't booked in under my name! But we got it sorted and I checked in. since they didn't have WiFi and I went over my data allowance for that pay period, I was desperate for free WiFi. I literally walked up and down the street until I picked up a few weak signals and used what I could. A residental unit close to my b&b had the most reliable signal so I was out there for like 2 hours. I didn't move from that spot cause the signal was weak as well and any slight movement made me lose it. So it did look a bit odd, a person standing in the middle of the sidewalk, facing the street, in the cold and wet of the night. This one guy asked if I was ok lol I said yes I'm just stealing this buildings WiFi! I was also across from a pub and as it got close to midnight this stupid drunk girl was outside on her phone being really loud. I wanted so badly to punch her for being down right obnoxious in a residental area but I kept my cool :-) my phone died soon after so that resulted in me going inside anyway. I soon went to bed after watching eye watering British tv. Sunday dec 4: there wasn't much open in the town but I did a little tour led by my lonely planet and I had downloaded a Darwin tour the previous night. So I checked out the historic buildings and went to an art exhibit at the bear steps gallery. The churches had services going on so I didn't go inside. So I walked around for a few hours, seeing everything mentioned in my book, then doing the Darwin tour. It was coming up to 11:30 am and one of the stops was a church so I went inside but there was a service going on still! So I closed the door as quietly as I could which of course made the most loudest banging noise! So then I went to the abbey cause that was open at least. The windows were amazing and the whole place was pretty big, and that was only half its original size! I spent a few hours in there, and went to the bathroom. There I saw the best sign - please make sure you lock the door behind you so no one walks in on you. You may not mind but they could be very distressed!! I didn't know monks had a sense of humor. So after the abbey I did more of the Darwin tour, I went along the quarry, which is a park along the severn. There was a man with his chocolate lab and he would kick a soccer ball and the dog would Chase after it and kick it all the way back! What a smart pooch! I was entertained for a bit but then I continued on my way thru the park and went to the dingle, which is a little circular garden in the center. Then I went to st chads church but it was closed. It is in this graveyard that the old Christmas carol was filmed and scrooges grave stone was still there but I didn't see it. It started to rain at this point but I was almost done with the Darwin tour. So I go down a hill and I realize that lance has a flat front tire :-( I pumped it up at first, hoping it was just a slow leak but it became flat again so I had to change it. So there I was on the side of the road, in the rain for a half hour fixing the flat. But lance was up and running again so that was the important thing. He also was a bit squeaky (he had been for the past week) so I decided that night he needed a fixer upper. So then I tried to go to the bell stone (an ancient boulder that inspired Darwin to become a naturalist) but the gate to the morris yard where it was inside was closed, so then I just headed for his house which was over the water in frankwell, but not too far. I went there but it is not open to the public so I didn't get a good view with the trees in the way, but I was at Darwins birthplace nonetheless. Now I had plans on going to earls hill after the house but the tire set me back and it was after 3 pm now but I was stubborn and set out for it, but I got lost so I just turned around and headed back. But I had passed a park on the way to chuckys house so to fulfill my wildlife urge I stopped over there for some time. And this is where my story ends for tonight boys and girls. Tune in tomorrow when I finish Sunday and hopefully complete my journey up till Tuesday at least!

Getting real excited for Christmas!

Thurs Dec 1: I went to the Chester town center but I got there earlier than expected and nothing was open for another 20 min so I thought I should find a supermarket or convenience store to buy some food, but there was nothing!! There was one local convenience shop but prices were hella expensive so I killed that noise. The cathedral opened at 9 so I went in and did another audio tour. It was real impressive inside, the choir seats had really great wooden carvings, and one of the arches was original from the Romans. At 10:30 I went on a walking tour of the town. It was just me and two ladies from new jersey. It was actually quite awesome cause the guide took us to a shop on the rows that was the most completely original out of all the shops. He normally doesn't take his tours there cause they are too big usually, so we got a real treat! So walking around was good, we went to the Roman amphitheatre as well. Then we ended at st john the Baptist church which he gave us a tour of as well. So our tour went over by 1 hour! But I didn't mind, I was really enjoying it. Then I went to the grosvenor museum and saw Roman tombstones and a few local exhibits, as well as a Victorian house, just like the one in derby. So I stayed till it closed, then went to 2 fine art private studios. One had a sign saying there was cheap art downstairs so I went down (not that I was looking to buy anything) and i didn't see anything cheaper than like £300. Good grief! So after those I went to the shopping center to take pics of the xmas decorations and I saw another gallery so I went in briefly. Then I went to a pub, a real old one, and had a cooked meal there. Then I went back to the hostel and extended my stay for that night, and was alone in the room again :-) I went to bed early cause I wanted to see the Roman wall and a few other sights before the museums opened the next day. Friday Dec 2: I got up a little after 7 am and walked pretty much the whole perimeter of the wall, went along the canal for a bit, checked out the amphitheatre and Roman gardens in more detail and tried to go back to the church but it was closed. Then I went to the heritage and culture center in what used to be st Michaels church (and I learnt on my tour that Lewis carols dad was a preacher at that church so he dragged Lewis to the services when he was a youngin but Lewis got so tired of hearing the same sermons that he would just wait outside and its believed that the idea for the chesire cat came from one of the grotesques on the church exterior, because the original Alice in wonderland book had a drawing of cheshire cat that was a spitting image to the grotesque! ) and I went to a small exhibit on the local history. Then I went to this cafe that had Roman remains inside, we had gone there on the tour but we only stayed for a few min so I went back to see it better. Then I tried to go to the Roman experience but it was booked out for a group of kids. So I went back to the grosvenor museum. I went to the natural history section and another Roman exhibit but Omg there were school groups EVERYWHEREEEEE!! They drove me absolutely insane. It's like I avoided one exhibit cause 5yr olds were in there being annoying, so I go to another exhibit, but there are 9yr olds in it!! There was no escaping the brats! Luckily they didn't go upstairs to the natural history section so I was at peace there :-) so around 3ish I left the museum to start making my way for malpas. I first visited a few xmas shops on the rows to lift my spirits :-) so then I started walking towards lance, I stopped off at an olde sweet shop and bought a snowman chocolate pop :-) then as I'm walking I see a man on top of a mechanical life size hippo, riding it thru the streets, wearing pilot goggles, as some lady was in front of him with a bucket and sweeper. And as he was steering the hippo down the street, a Santa jazz band was marching down the same street!! That was definitely the strangest encounter I've ever witnessed. So I got lance and rode back to the hostel, picked up my stuff and headed towards malpas!! I had to use the a and b roads yet again cause it was already dark by this point. So leaving Chester time was 3:46 pm. The route wasn't too bad, I was on the sidewalk for most of the way so as to avoid the cars, esp on the b roads cause there was no light! And it was cloudy so no moon to light my way. And its a shame too cause malpas would have been the perfect place to use my sky map! So yeah it was annoying that I was in darkness the whole way, but as I got into the real farm country I saw a really pretty xmas decorated house!! So that made it all worth it :-) so anyway I didn't get lost until I actually got to higher wych. I called the b&b but was going in and out of service so that was a bit annoying, but I was only just down the road. So when I arrived I got my typical surprise look when she saw I was on a bike. My arrival time was 6:40 pm, rode 17.82 mi (including the little bit around Chester), max 20.5, avg 7.5. I think I was the only one staying there that night cause the woman asked if I wanted to join her in the living room. So after I booked my next move, I went downstairs. Her husband had came back home so it was the 3 of us. They were quite a nice elderly couple, running this b&b together and also doing filming on Englands canals for retail. So the man told me about the canal route from wolverhampton to Birmingham. Apparently in the summer they get a lot of bikers stopping over that do the john o grotes to lands end route, but I said I was doing sight seeing, not long distance biking. They are a part of separate charity clubs, so the man was telling me that his rotary club does traveling Santas grotto around malpas and the nearby areas. How fun, I would have liked that as a kid! So I talked with them for a bit, the man showed me the mechanics to their grandfather clock, its from like the 19th century and still works and boy is it loud!! Good thing I didn't need to take a #2 at that time it struck 11pm, or else their would have been a mess on their couch, and unlike most old people, they didn't have plastic coverings on the upholstery! So back in the day, the mechanics for this clock didn't know how to drive 2 hands, so there is just an hour hand, so you have to guess what the actual time is! The man showed me the weight that pulls the chain that runs the whole thing and he put it in my hand and I nearly dropped it on my foot it was so damn heavy. Ok I think that's enough talk about the clock..so I went to bed after that. Saturday Dec 3: I woke up and had a great breakfast!! I was so full that I left 2 pieces of toast cause I just couldn't fit anything else in me! So I quickly set off and was heading for shrewsbury but I wanted to check out whitchurch first. The couple had left me some brochures on places to see on the way to shrewsbury and one of them was a whitchurch self guided clock tour, what the town is famous for making. So when I got there (it was only 2 mi from higher wych)  I went to the history&heritage centre to see if they had anymore info on the town but there were xmas markets going on so I just asked where tourist info was and the lady didn't know, so who did I end up asking!? Well Santa himself!! And he set me right. So I went there and got 2 more self guided brochures around town! One called "history on the spot" that pinpoints info boards on buildings, and another about Edward German, the composer who was from whitchurch. The info center also had a small exhibit with memorabilia from local people and businesses and also a few excavated artifacts. There was also a little room on randolph Caldecott and Edward German (born German Edward). Ok well I should hit the hay now so sorry to leave you in suspense just as my tale was getting juicy but I will have to continue tomorrow!!

Poor lance needs a doc real soon :-(

So Tuesday Nov 29: I donated my bouquet of roses to the yha, I hope James is taking good care of it!! I went to st Georges hall first thing that morning after I checked out cause I was switching hostels for the night. It is very big and had nice Christmas lights on the front. So I went in and checked out the exhibits. It used to be a holding cell area, so I saw the cells, and the court and judges room. There was also a Liverpool parks photo exhibit, taken by local amateurs, for a photo comp. I hope Leeds has the same for their in bloom comp and mike and my photos are selected!! So as I was walking thru the halls some real weird guy who clearly had some screws loose kept talking to me, despite me backing away slowly. He was only being friendly, telling me about some local people and buildings and about new camera technology, but I wasn't in the mood to humor any crazies, so I just said I was going to finish seeing the hall and I went into the next room, then waited a few minutes and went back to the exhibit and continued where I left off. So the interior was really beautiful, but the tour route didn't lead to the concert hall so I went to the reception desk and asked if the hall was about to be viewed, and the cute guy said no because a show was going on. We talked for a bit more but then I left. It was really downpouring so I went back inside to put my rain gear on and I got biscuit (lunch) crumbs on the floor, so I asked hottie if there was a garbage pail. He Said "a what?" And I said "garbage pail" and he asked if I was visiting from America. So the convo started and I really wanted to ask him out, being as this was my last night in Liverpool but I thought it wasn't appropriate given he was at work. So I left, in the rain, and went back to the museum of Liverpool to finish the exhibit I saw on Friday. After that I went to the open eye gallery which has temporary contemporary art exhibits. The main one I really liked, it showed photos of how humans clash with nature in the USA, and how people in Ohio were evicted to make way for like a power plant or something, and they were paid to keep hush hush from authorities. It was real moving. So after that I went to the yha to pick up my stuff and then ride to the everton hostel which was outside of the city. Literally as soon as i left it started raining so I again went to put my rain gear on and it started to hail!! Luckily neither one lasted long. I did go the wrong way and had to stop and ask for directions, but I found it shortly after. When I checked in and went to my room I walked in on an Italian couple kissing. I thought oh no this is going to be a long night. I got talking to them and the guy used to be a competitive biker. They were real nice. So I showered and did my laundry finally!! It was free! So after all that I went downstairs to the tv room, there was a cute boy speaking to another boy in some language I couldn't understand, I thought maybe they were German so I asked where he was from and they were scousers!! That was a bit of a turn off but I talked to them anyway, and also to a guy from pennsylvania. I could tell scouser boy was interested in me, but he was drinking and smoked and was just a typical scouse so I totally wasn't interested. So after the man city game I went to bed early so I could catch an early train to birkenhead. I don't know if the Italians got up the anything but I was sound asleep the whole night! So to sum up Liverpool: the xmas lights were nice, the shopping center was a bit mad but not as bad as Manchester. The nightlife was lacking during the week days, and the whole time the weather was a bit crap cause it rained a lot and was always windy. They do have the most museums & galleries outside of london though, but overall I like Manchester better. I would have possibly preferred to have not met up with so many people from Manchester, that way I could have potentially made new friends in Liverpool, but either way I enjoyed myself so I don't regret it. Wednesday Nov 30: I got up pretty early to leave and catch the train to birk. There was a Spaceport center at seacombe dock and also the wirral museum in the town hall so I wanted to make the most out of those opening times. When I got to the lime st station I couldn't find birkenhead on any of the screens so I had to ask someone at the ticket counter where the train was. Apparently it had its own separate track, but there were no signs making it obvious. the trains ran very frequently so I got to birkenhead central in no time. I did however get lost going to seacombe but I found my way after asking for directions :-) after all the trouble I went thru to get there it was closed! I was "gutted" cause it looked real fun by their website. So I went to the town hall and there was a demonstration of sorts going on outside, not much of a turn out, but I'm sure the population of Birk isn't exactly comparable to london. So I enter the town hall but the guard tells me the museum part is closed due to the strike. So I ran out of places to see, so I decided to head to port sunlight, a small town where Michael recommended I go to. So I went there (left bhead at 11:33 am, already did 8.03 mi), it was quite pretty, there was an avenues of trees, sculptures and a park. I went to the museum, which was small but told the history of sunlight soap and its inventor, lord lever. The ticket price also included a self guided tour around the town so since lady lever art gallery was also closed due to the damn strike I did that tour. As I was walking around I heard someone on a megaphone chanting something, I assume it had something to do with the strike. About half way thru the tour it started to rain, my booklet got drenched and started to fall apart! Amazingly, I saw someone else doing the walking tour! He was from new Zealand. It was only a quick chat cause we were at different points in the tour so we went our separate ways. So at 3:04 pm I left port sunlight and made my way to Chester. This was the first time that it rained on me for a considerable duration of my journey. It had stopped by the time I left PS, but for the last hour or so of my trek, it rained, not too hard though. And of course once I got to Chester center I had issues finding the hostel, but my gps pointed me in the right direction. So I found my hostel, arrived at 5:35 pm, did 26 miles total, max 20.5 mi, avg 7.5 mph (11.43 mi on odo when I left port sunlight) and when the owner answered the door he was quite bewildered that I came on bike. He was like "what are you doing cycling this time of year!?" And I didn't feel like explaining so I just said its not as busy!! But he was nice, when I was in the kitchen eating dinner he and his wife were giving me ideas on where to go and how to get there. I had the dorm to myself which was quite a change from Liverpool so I was very happy not to be woken up by anyone but me!! So I went to bed a bit after and it was nice and quiet (other than the backpackers sign that was hanging right outside my window, which was squeaking when it was being blown in the wind). Ok ill call it quits now and hopefully tomorrow will be another productive night!

Brit tv is soo freaking awful!!

So Sunday Nov 27, the ladies in my room were checking out so there was a lot of packing and rustling around which woke me up at like 7:30 am and I had to pee so I just used the hallway bathroom. Just as I was about to go back to my room, Paul came out of his room to leave to head back to st Helens and go to work! So I said bye and went back to sleep! So I woke up like 2 hours later and made my way firstly to the cathedral again to see if my glove turned up. The shop wasn't open due to a mass going on but some staff told me to check with security, so I went to the security desk who told me to check the info desk, so I went back to the info desk and there it was!! So after losing a glove and a scarf the day before I at least found one of the two! Then I went to check out hardmans photographic studio but the ticket booth was nowhere to be seen so I skipped that and went to the other modern cathedral. The bells were ringing and it was nice sounding but really loud. I didn't stay long because I went back to the other cathedral to watch a short film about the history of the cathedral (it was closed by the time I came down from the tower the previous day) so after that I went to the walker art gallery. On the way to the gallery I bumped into 2 of the people from the ny crew. I was on lance so they didn't recognize me at first. They told me they really liked Paul and they had a fun night. I prob liked them the most out of the 3 couples cause the guy (Brian?) Was kinda funny with his "camera stick". He bought a long pole that you screw into your cam and he was obsessed with it, taking group shots of us. It did come in handy. And his gf Caroline was quite nice. Anyway so I got to the gallery and went to a few exhibits, one about henri matisse. The world museum had a dinosaur temp exhibit but you had to pay, so I never made it to the museum. I stayed at the art gallery till it closed. I had plans to go out with james, but in the meantime I went back to the bluecoat gallery to finish off the exhibits. Who did I bump into, but one of the ghostly guides from the tour! I almost didn't recognize her without the make up on! She volunteers at the gallery, so I chatted with her for a bit then saw the rest of the place, then went to meet up with James at o'neills to watch the man city game. When it ended we went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then to play pool. I was reallllly tired so I just went back to the yha after that and went to bed. I think he stayed out and met up with some friends. On Monday I finally went to the Beatles story! The yha had a 2 for 1 deal so just as I was entering, a girl my age who was alone was entering too so I asked if she wanted to use the voucher with me. Naturally she agreed, and she was from philly! So the museum was really awesome, it was another audio tour, with some memorabilia. At the end they had a little section for each Beatle about what they did after the band split. And then at the very end there was a whole imagine tribute, which consisted of a wax dummy of john sitting at a table, with the lyrics written on the wall and the song playing overhead. It was so nice! So then there was another small exhibit the ticket included but it was on pier head, so I rode there (it was only a few min from Albert dock) so I went there but it was also in the same building as the mersey ferry ticket box office. So I went in and asked about the strike that was going to take place on wed- the day I wanted to go to birkenhead. The guy said no ferries were going and prob no trains either. I got real worried at this point and he felt my pain cause he said " the one day you want to go to birkenhead and theres a strike!" So he brought me to the gift shop to ask the staff there about the trains and they said they would be running but no one will be collecting tickets. And he said "so she can just go on for free??" And they were like "umm..not really" but I was thinking the same exact thing as that guy! But after all the commotion I went to the Beatles exhibit, it was a photo galleries of them at the odeon in Leeds! And somewhere in bradford. Then there was this 4d Beatles experience show. And when that ended I was supposed to meet with Alex at 6 but James said he would cook Indian food for me. So I asked Alex to meet at 7 but he said his bus to Manchester was leaving at 9. Then I asked James if he could start cooking at 5 but he said he didn't have the ingredients yet. And I was real hungry so I wasn't waiting till like 10 pm to eat so I canceled on James. I could tell he was annoyed by his lack of enthusiasm in his texts after that, but what can I do? I had plans with Alex first and he came all the way from Manchester to see me just for 3 hours. There are just too many boys up my ass, I can't handle them all! So I went to the yha and made some spaghetti then went to lime st station (the real one this time) to meet Alex. I asked an officer if the trains would be running on wed and he said yes so that put me at ease. So Alex brought me a bouquet of roses, and this was the gift he meant to give me when I left Manchester (well not the same exact gift cause apparently he let those die, so he bought a new one). Well good thing I didn't turn around and go back when he asked me to when I was leaving Manchester that time! Where the hell was I going to put it!? So anyway, we are walking around Liverpool, he was determined to go to the restaurant where he had an interview at, and the boss gave him the runaround each time he called asking if he got the job. He wanted an answer face to face, and then to say he found a job anyway. So we go to the restaurant, but he wasn't there, he was at a different branch, on the other side of town, so we go all the way there and find him. So they are talking and I'm waiting nearby, looking at the cookies and pastries in the window thinking mmm I want to buy one! But I didnt cause that would be in bad taste (not literally). So finally Alex "got his revenge" and then we went to wetherspoons and got some dessert until it was time to go back to the station. So I walked him there then rode back to the yha, with the flowers on my rack. I had my nightly session outside McDonald's. A guy asked if I was ok and I said I was fine, just using the internet! So after another tiring day, I went to bed!! Whew glad I knocked out 2 nights tonight, let's see how much I can do tomorrow!

Why did no one warn me liverpool was the tornado capital of the UK??

So Saturday Nov 26, I again was tired when I woke up but I got up early to do some more touring. Firstly I went to the town hall cause a veggie fair was going on. That was really cool, they had lots of free samples and free catering, so I stuffed myself silly. I also took some tofu and soy milk from the stalls. There were also lots of animal campain stalls, a few which I donated to and one in particular that fights against animals in captivity, I signed up for, but I still haven't heard from them! After I spent some time there I checked out the town hall and then went to an Alice in wonderland exhibit at a small art gallery (I don't know what's up with all the Alice in wonderland exhibits, there was one going on at the Tate as well but it cost money to see so I skipped that). After that I went to the cathedral, god it was massive!!! Even bigger than st Pauls. The bells were ringing rather morbidly and could be heard all throughout the city, and when I got closer I realized why, a funeral procession was going on. I didn't want to stare but I had never seen a horse drawn carriage at a funeral before. Not that I liked the idea of it. So I walked around the gardens for a bit until the funeral was over,then I went inside and did an audio tour. The architect of the cathedral also designed the red phone booths, and they are red cause the contest for the best design was sponsored by the post office. Towards the end of my tour I noticed I lost one of my gloves, but I couldnt find it. I went to the shop desk but no one turned it in. I wasn't too worried about it getting stolen. If someone was going to steal one glove under gods watch then there really is no hope for humanity! Plus what would someone do with one glove? Then I went to the top of the tower. The side facing the mersey was sooo windy!! But I got some good views of Wales and the city center. Then I went to an embroidery exhibit in the cathedral and with that the cathedral was closing so I left. I had booked a ghost tour at 830 pm and then Paul Thomas was coming so I went back to the yha to eat and shower. James told me the pub called the philharmonic where we meet for the ghost tour had a grade 1 listed male bathroom, so I went a bit early to check it out. The men were quite surprised to see a woman in there! But I assured them I wasn't being a perve, I was just checking out the decor. So right before the tour started, one of the guides asked where I was from. There were some other new yorkers on the tour so she took me and literally threw me at them and told me to make friends. They were from saratoga, but 2 of them were working in London so they all met up in Liverpool. I didnt actually like them at first,they were drunk and loud. One of the girls in the group was pretty nice,she kept talking to me in between ghost stories, even though I kept trying to avoid that group. And I didn't like her bf cause when I first introduced myself he walked right by me and said "I don't want to meet anymore Americans" and went to go talk to other people on the tour. I thought that was so rude. And the whole lot of them kept talking and were just annoying during the tour. But they invited me to go drink with them after the tour so I reluctantly said yes. The guides brought us to this pub at the end, and they went upstairs in the pub so I followed these other people from the tour who followed them. But we got yelled at saying we werent supposed to be up there, and the 2 girls that I thought were just other people on the tour were friends of one of the guides. Well how the hell was I supposed to know!? the pub was small and crowded so the new Yorkers decided to go back to the Philharmonic, where we sat in a room but it was a bit cramped. They bought a bottle of red wine and got a glass for me so I drank..3 glasses! Paul eventually came and all 3 girls on separate occasions told me he was hot and that I should get with him. So we were drinking with them, I liked them a bit more now. When the philharmonic closed we went to some other pub for a short while, then went to a karaoke bar. The girls sang Madonna and Omg was it terrible! Paul and I didn't stay too long. We walked back to the yha cause I had booked him into a room for the night. On the walk back it was incredibly windy and when we were nearly at the yha, I realized my scarf had blown off. So I told Paul to go check in and I will go look for my scarf. So here I am, pretty tipsy, walking around the Albert dock area at 3:30 am looking for my damn scarf! I never did find it, so I gave up and went to the yha. He had trouble checking in cause there was no recollection of him in the system apparently. So I had to go to my room and show the receptionist my receipt for payment, and then he was allowed to check in. I was real tired by this point so I just went to bed. Ok ill end it here and hopefully knock out a day or two tomorrow!

Still remoniscing on my Liverpool days

So onto Friday Nov 25, I woke up early and was real tired. But I had lots to see so I forced myself out of bed. Paul Thomas was coming in the afternoon to visit me so i went to the museum of liverpool until he showed up. The exhibit I was at was called global city and talked about how liverpool was a hub for trading goods and obtaining slaves, and also about its chinatown district. So around 1 pm Paul was on his way so I said I would meet him at the lime st station. My god were the streets of Liverpool crowded!! It was mayhem trying to push lance through the shopping center. So I call him and tell him I'm outside the station and he is telling me where he is but I'm not seeing anything he is referring to so I say to just meet me at the lobster pot. When we meet it turns out I was at the wrong station, I was at central station. But he found me, and then we went to a veggie cafe called egg (recommended by james) and that was good. Paul said he had never been in a place with that kind of atmosphere Before aka surrounded by a bunch of hippies, but he liked it. Then we walked around since I was still new to the area but soon after it started to absolutely piss it down with rain, and I had suggested going to a chocolate cafe but when we went they had removed the cafe part of it to sell xmas themed chocolate. So we bought some chocolate anyway but then ran to cafe Nero for a drink. I was drenched because this was the ONE day that I didn't bring my rain gear since all the other times I go out exploring, I bring it and it never rains. So I said I wanted to go back to the yha to change. So we did but I was running out of dry outerwear cause my jacket was still wet from the night prior, and now my hoody was wet. So I put on my sweater and hoped for the best. So I took him to the train station, it was about 4:30 now, and I went straight to the bluecoat gallery after I left him. they had a few exhibits there, none particularly interesting because they were local and didnt make sense to me. So I stayed there till 5:30 then headed back to the yha. James was working so we chatted again. I asked for a road map so I can start getting ideas for my route down to Birmingham. So I'm sitting next to the desk, reading the map when these older guys with real ugly accents come to the desk to order beer and they are just loud and real annoying. I guess James had mentioned he was a kiwi cause when one saw me sitting on the floor reading the map, he goes "oh you must be from NZ too cause they love maps." I'm like uhh..no I'm not from NZ. And another guy (who was the youngest, nicest and best looking at of all 9 or so of them) asked where I was from and so the convo started. They went to their room and I asked James where they were from and he said blackpool. After my shower I went into the common room to charge my phone and there they all were, sitting around the couches, drinking. I was standing behind the couch so I can charge and use my phone simultaneously. The hot nice one got us and moved to the other couch and offered his seat to me. So I sat next to a boy close to my age and one of the blackpool jackasses. Actually they werent too bad, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but 3 of them got on my nerves. They had ordered some snacks and right in front of James after he brought it all out, one of them was saying how gross it was. I thought that was so rude. Then another bald guy told me he liked my hair and that he had hair just like that but I shouldnt be looking there. Mind you this guy was probably in his late 50s, so just goes to show that some people never grow up! Then I had mentioned I was a veggie and hot nice guy offered me his fries so I ate them, and bald guy said "you know, those are fried in animal fat, so you're not a real vegetarian, you do eat meat." Then another old obnoxious bald guy goes "all women eat meat..even fucking carpet munchers!" And with that I felt real ill! And then I don't even know why, but they told me to give some fries to the guy next to me (the one that wasn't a part of their gang) so I put the butter on the bread and put the fries on it as they told me to, but then I just shoved the chip butty in the guys mouth without warning. Bread got everywhere on his clothes, and fries were falling out of his mouth. It was very funny! So soon after, the blackpool guys left and it was peaceful yet again!! I asked james when they were leaving and he said Sunday and I said I couldnt wait and he concurred! So I got talking to the guy who I just violated, his name is Nathan and he and another guy from Wales (can't remember his name) and some other guy were working for the recruiters of Britains got talent. They were helping with the lighting and filming of the auditions, so that's pretty cool! I declined the offer to audition this time around. There also were some ladies from Newcastle who were in town for the netball tournaments that were going on. so we were all chatting, but both parties went out soon after, so I was by myself for a bit. I couldn't be bothered going out, I needed a night off. The lounge was a mess though, so I cleaned up a bit and James said "no that's my job" and I said "no, you shouldnt be peoples' maid, they should clean up after themselves!" And he appreciated my help. So about an hour later, hot nice blackpool guy comes back, so we get chatting. He said he tums wasn't feeling well so he came back cause he couldnt drink. I probably had a shot at getting with him but I found him a bit boring after talking for like 10 min. So that turned me off, but I told him I would get him some pepto. So I went to my room but didn't see any pepto at the top of my bag (it was 11 pm now but there were people sleeping so I didn't want to be going thru all the stuff in my bags) so I just pulled out some pain killers and brought them to his room but he said he had his own pain killers, so I turned to leave and I could sense that he didn't want me to, and I half wanted to stay, half wanted to leave, but in the end I left and went to McDonald's to use the WiFi, then went to bed. And that's what I'm going to do now! More to come tomorrow!

The only person who should be singing adele is adele!!

Geez I have to remember a week back now, this is getting out of control. Well let's see what I can muster up...so I left st Helens. It got dark quickly. The ride to Liverpool was fine, no hills, but busy roads. I didn't get lost till I reached the crazy ring roads just outside the center. They were really confusing!! So that wasted a lot of time but I found the yha. Unfortunately I forgot to write down my stats, but I'm sure it was around 20 miles and I arrived around 6. So I checked in, looking a hot mess and I could immediately tell the receptionist (James) had a thing for me. He kept telling me about all these places to visit in Liverpool and asked where I was from and he said he was from Auckland so we got talking about that. I was at the desk for like 10 min! And whenever I wAlked by he always had to talk to me, couldn't just wave. I wasn't attracted to him though. And I had plans to meet up with elise (this is how you REALLY spell her name) so I was going to suggest to her the cavern club for a Beatles cover band (recommended by you know who), and James asked me if I was going out that night and i said yes and he asked if he could join us and I said yes we will most likely be at the cavern. And that is indeed where elise and I went (after waiting for each other at opposite gate entrances to Albert dock cause we didn't realize there were multiple entrances, so we met at the ferris wheel..and then got lost looking for mathew st!). it was cool to be in the cavern where the Beatles started out and everything, but it was soo loud and crowded, it gave me a headache! Elise and I started talking to a couple sitting near us, the guy was from Peru and the girl from Spain but she didn't know english very well so we mostly talked to the guy. But with all the noise he couldn't hear us so I started writing down what I was saying on the back of the map James spent all night marking destinations for me to visit on. I told them I was in Spain recently, near sorbas and I was studying lizards. Neither one knew what a lizard was (in english) so I drew a pic of one and the guy says "oh you studied dogs?" Yeah so you can imagine how far our conversations went. Then it was his round for the drinks and elise and I wrote down what we wanted, and he brought the paper to the bar, but left it there! I was a bit distraught cause all of James's hard work went down the drain! But when he showed up he told me he would make me a new one lol. Also the Peruvian guy and I were talking and by talking I mean screaming in each others ears so he goes to me, oh your hair smells nice! What shampoo do you use so I can tell my gf to use the same one. And I go, I've biked 20 miles today and haven't showered, that's not shampoo you're smelling! So anyway, the band was good, the crowd was mainly older people and they were rocking out. But geez the drinks were expensive! My round of 3 drinks came to like £12. Oh, I had texted james while he was still at work and asked if he could bring a mArker cause the walls were covered in graffiti, so I wanted to add our names to it as well. There wasn't much room but elise and i managed to fit it somewhere! So the last song the band played was hey Jude, and James takes me by my hand and makes me slow dance with him. At this point elise is looking at me and holds up 3 fingers (we were having a convo a little earlier about how Alex and Paul Thomas both liked me) so she was signifying James was the 3rd guy to fall for me. Then an older lady takes elises arms and lifts them up in the air and starts waving them cause she was the only one sitting down and not dancing or singing. So I throw up a "1" on my finger and for this I got a punch in the arm. So after taking some photos with that couple and with the band finishing, we left. It was downpouring outside! What an introduction to the nightlife of Liverpool! Well we walked in it anywAY. We said our goodbyes to elise and then James and I walked back to the yha. I was real tired and it was after 1 am now so I was really looking forward to going to sleep! But James said oh let me show you the Albert dock and I really wasnt in the mood but I said ok, so we walked around for a bit and he told me some stories (there are 2 liver birds on top of the..god I don't even know what the building is! Maybe civic courts? And local people say the female one is constantly looking over Liverpool and guarding its residents, while the male is waiting for the pubs to open). So I really enjoyed the walk around even though I was falling asleep. And since the yha doesn't have free WiFi I had to loiter outside McDonald's which was one block away and steal their WiFi, so needless to say,I went to bed very late and then on Friday morning I woke up around 930 am to start my touristy ways around Liverpool! And that was how I spent my thanksgiving, eating a nutella sandwich for dinner as well! But I think I will end it there tonight, I am in Chester now and there is lots to see tomorrow!