Day 67: The Freud Museum & The British Museum (9/17/2010)

We got up at 10am today. We were feeling pretty lazy today. I think all the walking and sightseeing is tiring us out! We had breakfast and were out of the apartment at 11am again. Today we took the Hammersmith and City line north to Baker Street, then took the Jubilee line further north to West Hamstead, and finally used the Overground to reach Finchley Road and Frognal station. (Frognal is an awesome name for a street btw.) Then it was a short walk through a nice quiet neighborhood of brick houses and tree lined streets to reach the Freud Museum. As luck would have it, the museum opened at noon and we arrived at 12:05pm. (We didn’t plan it that way...) We paid 7 Pounds entry (6 Pounds 2 for 1 for tickets, and 1Pound for an Audio guide).

The Freud museum was very interesting. It is in the house where Freud lived the last year of his life. He brought all of his belongings to this London home after he was forced to leave his home of 40 years in Vienna, Austria. There are cabinets and cabinets full of ancient artifacts and figures from Egypt. Freud compared archeology to psychoanalysis because in both you must dig deep through many layers to discover the treasures or truths that lay hidden below. All of his belongings remain as he left them when he passed away in 1939. It was interesting to learn about his life in Vienna and his forced departure upon the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany. Also of note was his apparent dislike of surrealist art which he made apparent when he was visited by Salvador Dali and basically crushed Dali’s dreams that the great Sigmund Freud would approve of his art.


It took us about two hours to visit the Freud Museum. We then hopped back on the train and made our way south to Waterloo. From there we walked to the restaurant Chili Chutney. There we bought curry filled baguettes (2 for 1) for 4 pounds. (Getting everything 2 for 1 is so much fun! Hahaha.) Then we checked out the London Eye and decided it wasn’t worth the price. (19 Pounds per person). After lunch, we took the metro north to Tottenham Court Road. From there we walked to the British Museum.



We walked around the British museum (which is free! I know it’s totally awesome) for an hour and a half admiring all the amazing ancient artifacts. They have an impressive collection of sculptures from Greece, Assyria, Rome, and Egypt. Finally, we decided our feet could take no more and we headed for home.



Near the Tottenham Court subway we saw a bus that was headed for Hammersmith (near where we are staying) so we decided to take the bus home instead. It was a much slower ride, but a lot more interesting. We had seats in the very front, of the top level of a double decker bus, and from there we could see all the stores, and watch the swarms of people walking, and shopping in London. Eventually the streets became less crowded and we passed by the huge park surrounding Kensington Palace. And finally we arrived in Hammersmith.


From there we took the metro to Shepard’s Bush Market. Then we walked to one of the many Halal chicken restaurants in the neighborhood. There we bought 4 halal chicken sandwiches and 4 fries for 4 Pounds. We took our dinner home and ate it while watching a British reality TV show called the Dragon’s Den. The chicken was delicious, and the Dragon’s Den was an amusing show about five rich people who hear pitches from innovators and then decide whether or not to invest their own money in these people’s inventions. One guy had invented a lid for cucumbers. None of the Dragons were interested.

Then I wrote the day’s update, read links online, chatted with Scott and Amber, and watched the rest of the Star Trek:Voyager that I started yesterday. We went to bed around midnight.

Day 66: The Tower of London & The London Transport Museum (9/16/2010)

Davin and I got up at 9:40am. We had breakfast and were out of the apartment by 11am. It took us an hour to commute in to London. We took the metro to Tower Hill station which is located right next to the Tower of London. We bought our tickets to the Tower (18.50 Pounds, 2 for 1!), and then waited for the 12:30am guided tour to begin.


The tour guides are Yeoman Warders who live and work in the Tower. It seems like an interesting job. You have to be in the service of the Queen for twenty two years to qualify, and also get some special award. Then if you are accepted you live in the Tower of London until you retire. Apparently, they are locked in the castle overnight as well. There are apartments in the castle walls that they live in with their families.

Our tour guide was really funny. It was impressive how well he knew his history. He entertained us with the terrible, bloody history of the Tower for an hour. When the tour was over, Davin and I visited the exhibits in the main castle keep, quickly walked through the exhibit of the Crown Jewels, and walked through some of the more infamous castle towers and read the stories of the prisoners. I enjoyed my visit this time better than the first time I saw it. I think the guided tour by the Yeoman Warder made all the difference.



For lunch we had Fish and Chips (3.99 Pounds each and it was quite a lot of food). Then we decided to visit the Golden Hinde, a reconstructions of the English Galleon famous for circumnavigating the globe in the 1570s. We had to walk back to the London Bridge, cross to the southern side, and go a little bit further east along the river to find it.



We were able to get 2 for 1 entry to this exhibit as well (6 Pounds). The ship is amazingly small for making such an grand journey. I can’t imagine how 60 crewmen fit on this thing. I think it would have totally sucked to be stuck on such a ship for any length of time!!


Next we went back to the London Bridge metro station and made our way to Covent Gardens. Covent Gardens is a popular shopping area of London. We didn’t go there to shop though! (Duh ;p) We went to visit the London Transport Museum which is in the same area.


This museum (2 for 1 [surprised?]entry for 10 Pounds) was really interesting. It was the history of transportation in London from 1800 to the present. We learned about the first horse drawn buses, and how the rail system was slowly built over the centuries. It also talked about the lives of the people who worked on the trains, or helped dig the subway tunnels. It was all around a really interesting museum. We wouldn’t have minded having another thirty minutes more to visit, but the museum closed at 6pm and we were naturally kicked out. :p


We then took the metro back to our apartment. For dinner we finished out leftover Chinese food from Monday night. Then we watched an old Whoopi Goldberg movie that happened to be on TV, and I uploaded updates and pictures to my blog. Then I watched a Star Trek: Voyager, and went to bed at midnight.

Day 65: Tower Bridge & HMS Belfast (9/15/2010)

Davin woke me up at 9:40am today. We were really lazy about getting up. Finally we had breakfast, and I took a quick shower. We left the apartment around 11am. We jumped on the bus going the opposite way as usual on a whim, but then I realized that if we went too far west we would leave zone 2, so we jumped right back off again. As luck would have it, going one stop the opposite way as usual brought us right to the door of a large grocery store. We were able to find cinnamon and nutmeg there for making French Toast for breakfast. We decided to come back later today to buy the supplies we needed.

Today we took a different route into the city. We took bus 266 south to Ravencourt St. and then took the District Line metro to Westminster. Then we changed to the Jubilee line and rode to London Bridge station. Then we walked north across London Bridge. This gave us a nice view of the famous Tower Bridge to the east, as well as the HMS Belfast.


When we reached the north shore we turned right and headed toward Tower Bridge. We passed the Tower of London, and continued to the Tower Bridge Experience. We paid 7 Pounds (2 for 1) to ride the elevators to the top of the Tower Bridge. The view wasn’t very impressive but we learned some interesting facts about the bridge and it’s history. The most interesting thing to me was that the horizontal connections between the two towers were original pedestrian walkways for when the bridge was raised. It’s actually kind of obvious, but I never thought about it before.

After reading the exhibit information along the walkways we took the stairs down the south tower. Then it was a short walk to the bridge engine rooms. This was the most interesting part of the Tower Bridge Experience. Inside the engine rooms it explained how the bridge lifting mechanism originally functioned using coal power.


When we finished visiting the Tower Bridge, we went in search of lunch. We tried to go to a Doener place we saw near the train station but it wasn’t open. Instead, Davin had a bratwurst from a café that they sold as a ‘Hot Dog’. I wasn’t that hungry so I just waited to eat until later. Then we walked back to the HMS Belfast so we could tour the ship.


We paid 12.95 Pounds (2 for 1 again!) for entry to the HMS Belfast. It was a really interesting museum, and the best historical ship tour I’ve been on. You were able to explore a lot of the ship including cramped hard to reach places like the boiler room, and shell rooms. There were lots of narrow, steep ladders to climb up and down. It was hard to maneuver at times. I wouldn’t have wanted to work in such an environment. The worst thing about it was that the insulation on the ship has tested positive for asbestos, and it was difficult to walk the narrow walkways when asbestos insulated pipes were on the left, right, and above your head! It was the ‘don’t touch the asbestos game’. I’m pretty sure I managed to get through without touching any of it, but I also didn’t want to spend much time in the rooms where the asbestos caution signs were everywhere.


Anyway, I had a lot of fun on the tour. The ship was fun to explore, and the audio tour was an interesting mix of facts and personal accounts. Unfortunately we weren’t able to visit the upper deck because it was closed for mast reconstruction. Still, it took us two hours to see everything we did!



We finished touring the HMS Belfast around 5pm. Since there wasn’t time to see anything else today we headed back to the apartment. We returned home the way we came, except that we got off the District line in Hammersmith instead of Ravenscourt. Then we took the Hammersmith and City line north to Shepherd’s Bush Market. From there we walked down the street until we found a Kebab restaurant. There we bought two Doeners for dinner. Then we caught the 207 bus back to our apartment. We ate dinner while watching Aljazeera news. I LOVE Aljazeera. It’s always so interesting!

After dinner, we went back to the Tesco’s we found this morning by chance. We bought supplies for French Toast and picked up some Dr. Pepper. Davin is happy to have Dr. Pepper to drink again. Then we returned to the apartment. I then worked on the blog, and Davin used his computer. I also chatted with Scott. Then I went to bed around midnight.

Day 64: Churchill's War Rooms, and Madame Tussaud's (9/14/2010)

Davin woke me up at 10am this morning. It felt soo good to sleep in! We had cereal for breakfast from the continental breakfast that is included in our apartment rental. Then we made a grocery list, and got ready to go.

First we took the metro to Winchester to see Winston Churchill’s War Rooms. The metro exited out right underneath Big Ben, so we took pictures of that first. Then we walked across the bridge crossing the Thames to see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben from a different perspective. Then we wandered over to Waterloo Station just out of curiosity. From there we took the national rail back towards Winchester. We got off at Charing Cross station and found a Pasty Shop. We decided we would come back to get a pasty for lunch.

Next we walked to Trafalgar square quite by accident. Then we headed south towards Big Ben again. We were trying to find the War Rooms but weren’t terribly concerned about finding it quickly. We passed by Scotland Yard, and 10 Downing Street, before we finally found arrived at our destination.


The Churchill War Rooms were interesting. Churchill was quite a character. It was neat to see the location from which the WW2 war effort was directed in Britain. Most of the furnishings were originals. The maps were covered in thousands of pin holes which once represented ship convoy movements during the war. The complex is situated beneath a street near Parliament. It was supposed to provide protection during German bombings, but apparently Churchill liked to watch the bombings from the roof of the building overhead. I guess it’s lucky a bomb never hit the secret location!


After we saw the museum, Davin and I returned to Charing Cross Station and had pasties for lunch. We got large traditional Cornish pasties which they call ‘The Big One’. Funny name. :) Then we took the metro north to Baker’s Street to visit Madame Tussaud’s.


The entry price to Madame Tussaud’s is ridiculous (28 pounds per person). The only reason we went was because we could get 2 for 1 entry with our rail cards. At that price, it’s somewhat reasonable. We took pictures with some of the wax celebrities: Morgan Freeman, Patrick Stewart, Shrek, and Wolverine. They had quite a collection of figures. Movie Stars, Sports celebrities, Music celebrities, Political Figures (from Gandhi to Hitler...), a Horror section, and a history of Britain ride. The last attraction was a 4D short movie with super heroes (Capt. America, Spiderman, Wolverine, Hulk, and Iron Man). The fourth dimension was getting sprayed with water, or wind, along with events in the film. The most unique was getting stabbed in the back whenever Wolverine stabbed something with his claws! It scared me every time and actually kind of hurt! A uniquely annoying experience ;). Overall, the film was fun and enjoyable.


It was 6pm when we finished with the wax museum. We headed back to Shepherd’s Bush Market and bought some groceries. Back at the apartment I made us fajitas for dinner. We forgot to buy an onion, so we had to run back out and buy one. Luckily, our apartment is right next to a street which has a small grocery store every couple hundred feet. They are mostly run by Indian or Pakistanis. Middle easterners always have the best produce stores. I finished up the fajitas, and we watched another British reality show about restaurants competing to be the best by completing various challenges. It was hosted by the same guy who hosted Hell’s Kitchen. Then I worked on writing 3 updates, chatted with Scott, and went to bed at 12:30am.

Day 63: Goodbye Germany, Hello London (9/13/2010)

Dad came to wake me up at 6am today! Soo horribly early! I had a quick breakfast and then we packed our bags into the car. We were at the train station by 7:20am. Our first train of the day was at 7:57am, so we got settled on the train (it was already there) and then chatted with Dad. Ultimately, we had to say our goodbyes. As the train pulled away, we waved to Dad, and he waved to us, until we could no longer see each other.


The first train ride was only an hour so we just rode in a silent tired stupor. In Nuernberg we had a 30 minute wait for our next train. We rode on an IC, instead of an ICE, next because it was cheaper and only added an hour to our total travel time. Our assigned seats weren’t near an electrical outlet, so we sat in different seats and watched Star Trek: Voyager for the five hour ride. Apparently no one had reservations for the seats we chose because noone bothered us.


We arrived in Koeln around 2:00pm. Then we had to wait forty minutes for our next train. This one was an ICE. It took us an hour and a half to reach Brussels. I was so sleepy by this point that I just napped.

Our train was 10 minutes late to Brussels. In addition, when we got off the train from Koeln a wheel fell off Davin’s ‘new’ suitcase! So we just had to drag it with only one wheel. Unfortunately, that 10 minutes made us miss our next train because the Eurostar trains require you to go through passport control, xray machines, and a UK immigration check. They were very accommodating however, and put us on the next train at 5:45pm. So we just had the annoyance of waiting one additional hour.

Two and a half episodes of Star Trek: Voyager later, we arrived in London. There we bought national rail cards for one week of travel in London. This enables us to use any route or method of public transportation we want, as long as it is withing Zone 1 or 2 of the city. Since our apartment is in Zone 2, and everything worth seeing in the city is in Zone 1, it works perfectly for us. Also, the card enables us to get 2 for 1 entry to a lot of attractions in the city.


We then took the metro to Shepherd’s Bush Market, then we waited for a bus to take us to our apartment. We waited, and waited, and finally decided to walk, then of course the bus finally came and we missed it! Our poor suitcase had most of the bottom worn off from being dragged around. Finally we got the bus at a stop further down the street, and a nice woman pointed us in the right direction once we got off the bus. Then it was just a few more minutes before we arrived. We were so happy to have made it!!

We checked in, and got settled in for the evening. Then we went out and got dinner at a nearby take out Chinese food restaurant. Davin said the food was decent. I didn’t have any because I was too tired to be hungry. I just finished the last tuna fish sandwich that was left from our lunch. Our Dad packed us a really nice lunch today. Tuna sandwiches for me, and ham and cheese for Davin, several chocolate bars, potato chips, two cokes, and a couple apples. Thank you Dad!!

After dinner, we watched a little TV and I chatted with Mom and Scott on the computer. We saw an interesting reality TV show called Hell’s Kitchen. Then we went to bed around midnight (which was actually 1am German time).

Day 62: Saying Goodbye to Jona and Baerbel (9/12/2010)

I got up at 8am today so I could see Jonathan off. He left for a two week student exchange program in Greece. It was sad to see him go. Davin and I had a great time playing games with Jona. Now we have to go at least a year before we can see him again. We are hoping he can come visit us for one month in San Diego next summer. The three of us would have a blast together.

Once Jonathan left, I skyped with Scott until 10:30am. Then I let him go to sleep. Today the main event is packing up to leave tomorrow. I read links on my laptop until Davin finally showed up. We made some frozen pizzas for lunch (Davin’s breakfast).


After lunch it was time for Baerbel to leave. She is going on a one week hiking trip in the Alps with her friend Martina. We gave her hugs goodbye and then waved as she drove off. The house is getting quieter and quieter as the day goes by!


Once Baerbel was gone, Davin and I finally got busy preparing to leave. First, we discussed the packing situation, and decided we should ship some of our unnecessary belongings back home. We packed our rollerblades and gear into Davin’s big black suitcases. Then we added some souvenirs, extra pairs of shoes, and other miscellaneous items until the bag was full. We managed to get rid of 60 pounds worth of belongings!! It will cost us 84Euros to send it back home, but it will be such a relief to have less weight to pull around. :)

Meanwhile, Dad was outside painting the stairs that lead to the house from the pond. When he finished with that, the three of us drove to his office at the University to get one of his extra suitcases out of storage. Now Davin has a normal sized blue suitcase.

Back at the house, we spent an hour and a half packing away all of our things. We managed to get everything to fit (barely!). Our bags are still really heavy (50lbs each), but the reason they are still really packed is because we managed to fit our sleeping bag inside one of the suitcases.

At 6:30pm, Dad, Davin, and I went out to eat dinner at Gottsman’s Gruener. It is a really delicious Italian restaurant specializing in pasta dishes. I ordered a salmon pasta dish, and Davin had some kind of pasta bolognese which wasn’t very good. Mine tasted almost exactly like my mom’s Fisherman’s pasta dish. I only like the salmon dish better because it was made with salmon instead of imitation crab. Dad treated us to dinner tonight as a send off gift. That was really nice of him.

We returned to the house and I did a few last minute things to prepare for leaving tomorrow. I showed Dad our pictures from Wuerzburg, said goodbye to Scott, packed up my laptop, and went to bed at 10:30pm.

Day 61: Horsing Around (9/11/2010)

I got up at 8am to skype with Scott today. But he decided to go to a movie with his friend, so I got seven hours of sleep for absolutely no reason... I chewed him out for being so inconsiderate. I finished watching Zweiohrkueken while waiting for him to get home. When he arrived, we skyped until 10:30am. Then I said goodbye and quickly got ready to go.


Baerbel and I then went to the place where she goes horseback riding. She rides a friend’s horse once a week. I enjoyed petting the horses and watching her ride. There was also this really cute four year old girl who rode a huge black horse. She had absolutely no fear about it. The size difference between horse and rider was pretty amusing. Her mom runs the horse place and just lets her kids run around under foot, and under hoof. I wouldn’t be able to be so nonchalant about having my kids around horses. The two year old son was cute when he started pulling on the hoof of the horse to clean it. Obviously, the horse didn’t budge. Also while we were there, Baerbel’s friend Angelika came by to say ‘hi’.


We got home again around 1pm. For lunch I had leftover Schweinebraten. After lunch, I played Little Big Planet with my brothers. We got very frustrated playing with three people. The camera angle and the amount the camera moves around is just awful! Finally, we got fed up and took a break. I sewed shut some holes in my pants. Both pairs have had buttons rip off somehow. Now they are both good as new again! :)


During our break I worked on writing past updates and Davin played Mass Effect 2. Finally we returned to Little Big Planet and finished the game. Then the thee of us played half a campaign of L4D2. At 6:30pm, Jona had to stop to watch a soccer game. Davin beat Mass Effect 2, and I read links and worked on the blog while chatting with Scott.

At 8:30pm, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. We ate at a delicious Chinese buffet. It was pretty expensive though, 9.90Euros. I never get more than $8.00 worth of food from buffets. The chocolate ice cream that I had for dessert was really yummy though.


We made it home around 10:30pm. Then I copied the pictures of Baerbel’s horseback riding to her memory stick. She and Dad went to bed. Then Davin, Jona, and I had one last gaming hurrah. We played death match in UT3.

Day 60: Obernsees, Little Big Planet, and Schweinebraten (9/10/2010)

I woke up at 9:40am today. During and after breakfast I watched the movie Finding Neverland. While watching, I sewed the holes of my leather jacket shut with silver and purple thread. Old Bess is getting in touch with his feminine side. :)
For lunch I had a leftover hamburger from yesterday. Davin and Baerbel had scrambled eggs. After lunch, I cleaned up the computer room downstairs. I threw away all kinds of papers and started a pile of things that I don’t need to take on the rest of the trip with me. Dad has kindly offered to bring some of this junk back to the States for us when he goes there in October. I also recorded all the receipts of recent purchases and did other business type things that I’ve been putting off.
Around 2pm, my brothers and I went upstairs to play Little Big Planet. We did that until 3:30pm. Then I drove the three of us to Obernsees which is a really nice thermal swimming place. We went in pretty much all the pools. The outdoor hot pool, the river current ride, the waterslide, steam room, and meditation pool. Davin enjoyed the water slide a lot. He kept saying “Let’s go one more time every single time we went!” No one broke any bones.


At 6:30pm we returned home and had a delicious dinner of Schweinebraten. Then Davin and Jona helped my Dad set up his computer and microphone so he can play songs off of Youtube and do Karaoke. Meanwhile, I watched the movie Zweiohrkueken, which is the sequel to Keinohrhasen. Around 10:30pm, my brothers and I played Little Big Planet again until midnight. Then I went to bed so I could get up at 8am to Skype with Scott.

Day 59: Little Big Planet (9/9/2010)

**Work In Progress**
I got up at 9am and skyped with Scott til 10:40am. Watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Cried a lot! Played Little Big Planet. Went to town to shop. Had Hamburgers for dinner. More Little Big Planet. Started Finding Neverland. Chatted with Scott. Went to bed at 1am.

Day 58: Visiting with the Samfasses (9/8/2010)

Davin and I woke up around 9:30am. Wilma helped us get our breakfast of english muffins and frosted mini wheats. Then we packed up and brought our bags downstairs. Bastian had forgotten to bring his cell phone home with him so we had no way to contact him. However, we didn’t have to wait long before he showed up at the house.

We packed our things into Bastian’s car, and then the four of us went to visit the castle in Rimpar. The castle is where city hall is located and Wilma is on the city council and she occasionally gives castle tours, so she literally has the keys to the castle. The coolest part of our tour was being able to climb to the top of the castle tower. The view from up there was really nice.


Meanwhile, Bastian went to pick up Katarina. Then they met us back at the castle. All of us drove into Wuerzburg and dropped Wilma off at work. Then we visited Thilo at his apartment. Thilo showed us around and we saw his girlfriend Lisa again. It was nice to see him. I took a picture of the brothers and their girlfriends to show my mom. It wasn’t long before Thilo had to set off for work, so we said goodbye and set off to tour to Residenz.




The Residenz was a very beautiful palace. The ceiling paintings were amazing. Unfortunately, pictures weren’t allowed. There was an interesting exhibit on the manufacture of tapestries. It was neat to learn how they were made in factories and could be purchased in pieces or several panels could be seamlessly combined into one.



When we finished our tour, we found a Doener place for lunch. It was really cheap and super delicious! The Doener shop was very close to Norbert’s work place, so we stopped by really quick so I could take his picture. (I forgot to do it the night before.)


Next Bastian dropped me and Davion off at Nautiland, an indoor/outdoor swimming pool that Davin and I remember from previous visits. It was about 4:30pm when we arrived there. It was pretty cheap to get in, 4.50 Euros for the day. Inside we went on the water slide and the river current. It was all really lame compared to our grand childhood memories, but it’s kind of fun to have your illusions shattered. The slide was pretty slow and unimpressive, and the river current just doesn’t have as strong an effect on you once you’re an adult.

At 6pm, Bastian picked us up and brought us to the train station. We said our goodbyes and made it on the 6:36pm train back to Bayreuth. Davin and I chatted a bit, and I worked on the updates for the two hour train ride.

Dad and Jona picked us up from the train station at 9pm. Back at the house we scrounged up a dinner of leftovers, and then we spent the evening on our computers. I chatted with Scott of course, and went to bed a little after midnight.