Adventures & disasters

the happily out-of-date adventures of Lesley

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

home, sweet home


ahhhhh...the comforts of home. We had a nice thxgiving, and fun time with all the homies. Thank you again John and Kim for letting us couch surf!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANI!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

take a BATH, why don't cha.

Bath is a city in South West England most famous for the only naturally occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom.

During the 18th century, Bath was an extremely fashionable cultural hub, attracting the aristocracy from all over the country. It was a resort city for the wealthy to take advantage of it's healing baths and to "take on the cure."

But the history of Bath goes back much further than that! Just recently (In the last 100 years or so) they have begun archeological digs and have unearthed a huge a Roman monument.

Excavations have revealed that the human use of the hot mineral springs at Bath began at least 10,000 years ago! First frequented by Neolithic hunter-gatherer tribes, the springs were later used as sacred temples by Celtic peoples. The Celts, who arrived in England around 700 BC, erected what are believed to be the first shrine structures at the springs. They were dedicated to Sulis, a goddess of water, and the shrine was a religious center for much of southwestern England.

Next up was the arrival of the Romans in 43 AD. The Celtic shrine was taken over and the goddess Sulis was now identified with the Roman goddess Minerva as a healing deity.

The temple that you can go see today is that 2,000 year old sacred place where peeps would go to seek the assistance of the goddess Sulis-Minerva, as well as relax in a nice hot bath. Excavations in the bottom of the spring found a collection of sacred votive offerings thrown by worshippers into the waters. Many of these are messages scratched onto metal, known as "curse tablets." These curse tablets were written in Latin, and usually laid curses on other people, whom they felt had done them wrong.

Also found from the spring's bottom, over 12,000 coins - spanning the entire Roman period!!

This great healing shrine of Aquae Sulis was not to last. Following the departure of the Roman legions in the 5th century AD, the city, temples, and baths fell into a swift decline. Over time the baths were completely covered by the relentless silting of the spring and eventually the vaulted building collapsed into the Spring itself.

Then, at the end of the eighteenth century, this magnificent temple was "discovered" again!

When you go for a tour you can see the numerous Roman bathing pools that were fed with a constant flow of water delivered by lead pipes. These still function today, nearly two thousand years after it was first built!!

Scientific study of the waters show the presence of 43 different minerals including iron, magnesium, potassium, copper and radium. The main spring, bubbling out of the ground at a rate of a quarter of a million (one MIL-LI-ON) gallons per day and maintain a constant temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whew! That's hot.

www.cityofbath.co.uk


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Stonehenge and Windsor Castle











Today in jolly ol' England, we became the ultimate tourists and hopped on a tour bus for a daytrip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.

Wish I had more pix of Windsor Castle, it had came with the package "tour", and I wasn't even interested in seeing it, I was more into the idea of Stonehenge and Bath. Well, guess what? I was impressed. I would have some pix to show if they had let us take any; you'll have to settle for this link, if you are interested:

http://www.royal.gov.uk

When we pulled up to Stonehenge it was a beautiful day. There was a double rainbow over the pasture and the sun was shining. Then, about 2 minutes into being there, the fastest storm I have ever been in swept across the sky. In about 30 seconds a freezing cold raining hailstorm was battering down on us! How authentic, non? A nice weird experience to have at one of the world's wonders. 40 minutes later as the bus was pulling away, it was bright and sunny again. :)

Cool.

www.stonehenge.co.uke




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Monday, November 20, 2006

Hyde Park

Another great day in London. We met our new pal Ravi who treated us to a yummy dinner at his fave London grubbin' spot Pizza Express and then we caught the musical "Blood Brothers." Good times.

Earlier in the day, we walked around Buckingham Palace, and saw the The Winston Churchill Museum. This is a seriously cool museum. It's the underground shelter where Churchill lived and made all his war time decisions in WWII during the Blitzkrieg of London. My grandma lived through the bombings in London, so it was fun for me to see a piece of that history.

The day the war was over, it's like everyone just stopped what they were doing and left the bunker. So practically everything is intact and in it's place. Even a funny cartoon someone drew of Hitler on one of the strategy maps on a wall. You also learn a lot about Churchill, who was a pretty clever and sassypants guy.

http://churchillmuseum.iwm.org.uk

We also walked through the gorgeous and HUGE Hyde Park. The squirrels there are used to getting feed by people and of course we obliged. The only problem is, those suckers are aggressive. At one point I was feeding a furry friend, feeling much like snow white - when I looked over and a squirrel had crawled all the way up Robbie's pants and onto his hip!! Man, I wish I had a picture of those shenanigans. I was too busy trying to stop laughing and maintain a dry pair of knickers.



Sunday, November 19, 2006

Julie West and Jack the Ripper

Today started in a good way. Well, first, we're in London, so it's not like I can complain...and secondly, I met a super talented Illustrator whose work I've admired for years! Julie West, her hubs Rob, and her darlin' James were sweet enough to drive 2 hours down to London to hang out with us for the day.

They were so nice and fun, and to top it off, great hosts. They took us for a walking tour of the city's West End and then we all took a ride on the famous "London Eye."

Thx for being so rad, guys! Yeah!

www.juliewest.com
www.ArseyRob.Com

At 6 we had a date with the " Jack the Ripper Terror Tour" (yes, I know, we are shameless tourists) so we said a sad goodbye to our new pals and hightailed it into the gruesome night ahead.

Our tour began with a nice boat ride down the River Thames, where we learned many an eerie tale, including the origin of the word "whopper." Our tour guide (of terror!) told us that it derives from Wapping Street where they used to hang criminals, smugglers, and pirates in cages bolted to the walls of the Thames. As the Thames would rise, the criminals would drown. Their bodies were left there for days or weeks (as a warning to other trouble makers) and would swell up and bloat. The locals nicknamed the bodies "Wappers." et...viola! But, don't take my word for this one, it could be a "whopper" itself.

Next up was a drive to the Old Bailey - the site of numerous public hangings, the Royal London Hospital where the Elephant Man lived, and the Wallace Plaque where Braveheart was tortured. We heard stories of gangland warfare, butcherous barbers, train robbers, and other creepy tales from the very bloody history of London. Very interesting stuff for the morose, like moi.

Then our guide took us for a jaunty into London's East End, Jack the Ripper territory. The walk was seriously fun and I learned quite a bit about the case & history of London. Good times. A highlight was, after the tour was over, Robbie and I went back to the Ten Bells pub for a night cap.

The Ten Bells pub is over a hundred years old and is the actually bar that most all of Jack's victims took their last drink before meeting their horrific ends. Some theorize that this is the place that ol' Jackie met or followed the women home from. Supposedly, the pub looks virtually as it did in 1888 and I believe it.




Saturday, November 18, 2006

'allo Lon-dan, Eng-ga-land!!

Well, we said "lates" to Paris, and hightailed it to London for a few days of British buggery - wow, I did not use that in the right context. Heh.

First on the list - fish n' chips! They were, as a matter o' fact, the best I have ever had. I'm confirming the rumors, the English do a bang up job on deep fried cod.

Also awesome: The British Museum!! The best part? It's FREE! Thx England!

That's extra good news because the Pound is now almost double the plummeting American Dollar. Thx Bush!!
(that's sarcasm, wanker.)

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk




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Friday, November 17, 2006

A Bientot, Paris!


Au revoir Paris, we will miss you.

Sniff sniff, sigh.



Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A quick trip to the Loire Valley

This week we had the pleasure of visiting our favorite fellow ex-pats, zee Grandparents! They treated us to a nice trip to the Chateaux de Chambord in one of the loveliest areas of the Loire Valley. Thx guys! We love ya!

My fave feature was the double helix staircase - you can be ascending on one side, while someone else is descending on the other, and you will never cross each other. Maybe one side was used for the Queen and the other for the King's "favorites"? Hmmmm...

Francois the I's symbol is a fire blowing salamander and there are hand carved lil' buggers all over the door ways, the ceiling, ect... pretty kewl.




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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Joyeux Anniversaire Mere!

Monday, November 13, 2006

A Night of Debauchery

Today the lovely and multi-talented Tara McPherson was in Paris for the world tour of her beautiful new book : Lonely Hearts! Yeah! We had the pleasure of rocking out to her set at the awesomely rowdy bar Planete Mars.

Wish I could say I had some great pix of Tara and the bar... but I think you get the idea from these gems that picture taking was not at the top of my list of priorities tonight.

Thx Tara! Hope you had fun.

http://www.taramcpherson.com




Saturday, November 11, 2006

Jardin de Luxenbourg don't grow poppies, y'all.

Happy Remembrance Day, homies.

So, when I was a lil' beaver growing up in the wilds of Canada, we celebrated Remembrance Day. (We also celebrate Boxing day, but you'll have to wait until x-mas for that description, my American comrades)

Anywhooo...today was Remembrance Day. It's a day to commemorate the fallen veterans and civilians of Wars and is observed today because World War I ended on Nov.11th in 1918 - just like Veteran's Day. Except that we pin poppies on our chests and have a moment of silence at 11am (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - even the TV goes silent for one minute, impressive, non?)

So, the poppies are a symbol we use because of military physician John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields." Poppies had bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red color a symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare.

Okay okay...so ya see, I moved from the country of the Maple Leaf over to the "Red, White, and Blue" when I was around 13. Our cultures are pretty damn similar, so it throws me for a loop sometimes when my Bald Eagle-lovin' bros don't know what the hell I'm talking about when I say things like: " Kraft Dinner, shall I turn over?, or mmmmm...Coffee Krisp."
(translations: Mac & Cheese, should I change the channel?, and a delicious kit-kat-esque chocolate bar)

Alright, my point was - I tried convincing John and Robbie that they had INDEED worn poppies in honor of Remembrance day when they were kids, when in fact, they had no idea what the hell I was talking about. Ravi (our pal from the UK) added to the confusion when he agreed with me. Of course people wear poppies today, it's the 11th of November!

Turns out that NO, Americans do not celebrate Remembrance Day, but YES, Commonwealth countries do (United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, ect...)

Well, there ya go. Incredibly stimulating piece of information, I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields

In other news today: pirate ships, Alphonse Mucha, fish with toofs.



Friday, November 10, 2006

Paris avec Ravi

Today we had a special guest from Lon-dan En-ga-land join the English speaking gang of yanks here in Paris. Bienvenue, Ravi!

We checked out the Eiffel Tower pretty late that night and got to see it all a-twinklin' and a-sparklin'. We also saw about 5 cars parked next to each other, all with people getting' down.

Robbie said he remembered seeing the freaky-deeky parking lot when we was a kid visiting lil' Eiffel - so next time you're feeling a little frisky while in France, you know where to go.


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