Paris: Where the chicks are hot, the pigeons are fat, and the yoghurt is carbonated...

Well we made it. After a relatively uneventful and smooth journey to Paris on the awesomeness that is the Eurostar, we set about finding our hostel. This proved slightly more challenging than expected as we werent entirely sure what metro station to get off at, but we ended up having a nice walk around the city in our search. We eventually found our hostel in a great location, right next to the Louvre Museum and proceeded to check in and get ourselves organised for the days sightseeing. Our first priority was to find a Tourist Information Centre so we could get a decent map of the city. Having completed this, we decided to explore a little more and meander our way around the city in the general direction of the Arc de Triomph. On the way we randomly ran into some very beautiful churches that werent in either Rishi's or my guide books. The Church of Sainte Madeleine and Sainte Augustine proved a great introduction to the rich and diverse architecture of the city, and served as great rewards for our explorations. The Arc De Triomphe soon appeared in the distance, and it didnt seem very far away at all. Unfortunately, due to its size, this was deceiving and it tended to stay 'in the distance' for a good half an hour. However, we were not dissapointed when we arrived. It really is a spectacular site, rounded by the huge Charles de Gaul traffic circle. All I could picture in ,my mind was a young Bernard and Brenda Hale nearly killing themselves while attempting to navigate the gigantic traffic nightmare. Cheers to you Mum and Dad. We then walked down the famous Champ del Elysses to arrive at Concord Plaza, and a large Egyptian Obelisk given to the French as a present in the 1800s. Not satisfied with having completed this massive trek, we decided to hike to the Eiffel Tower as it was soon to be sunset. Our legs were soon protesting violently, and even more so when they discovered much to their horror, that we were going to climb to the top. It was worth it though, as the views of the city at dusk were breathtaking. the Eiffel Tower is truly a wonder, especially when it is all lit up at night. Limping our way home, we decided that day & was a success, and declared the Euro Trip OPEN!

Day 2 found us wanting to visit the Louvre Museum, only to discover that it is closed on Tuesdays. Reverting to Plan B, we headed to the centre city and the Ile de Cite in the middle of the Seinne River. Our first stop was the Conciergerie, housed in the old Royal Palace of which not much has survived. It is now the seat of the French Law Courts and functioned as a prison during the French Revolution. There we discovered the place where Marie-Antoinette was held prisoner before her execution, along with other casualties from the Revolution. Next we headed to the Saint Chappel in the old courtyard of the palace. We were told that this was Paris' finest example of Gothic architecture, and were not initially overly impressed. It was beautiful of course and the colours were quite startling, but other than that it wasnt anything special. UNTIL we headed upstairs. It was truly jaw dropping. The stain glass windows were so unbelievable. It just left us speechless for AGES. Definitly one of my favourite sites so far. We could not put off going to the Notre Dame Cathedral any longer. I had high hopes for one of the worlds most famous Cathedrals, and was certainly not dissapointed. The detail on EVERYTHING was fantastic. It was also quite beautifully symmetrical and extremely large, easily one of the biggest I have been to. However it was also extremely beautiful to match. I havent really found anything that balances this quite as well as Notre-Dame. Unfortunately, we couldnt find any sign of any hunchbacks.... We then had a bit of a trek to go to our next site, the Pantheon. This is much larger than the one in Rome, but a lot more modern. Originally functioning as a church, it has been used as a sort of French National Temple since the 1800s. The whole place demonstrates one of the qualities that I really love about the French. They are EXTREMELY proud of their heritage and culture, and for good reason! Today the Pantheon houses some beautiful artworks dedicated to important events in French History. Underneath, it contains the burials of some of the greatest and most prolific French men and women including figures like Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Concluding this solemn visit, we wondered towards the Palais de Luxembourg, a large building and garden complex. We didnt stay long, but decided to head to the underground Catacombs of Paris, its solution to overpopulated graveyards. Unfortunately we arrived too late and it was shut, so we wondered back to the hostel, taking in the Hotel Invalides, which contains the burial of Napolean, and a light show on the Eiffel Tower.

Day three saw us finally managing to get to the Musee Louvre. We had walked past this gigantic complex many times and each time we were freshly astounded by its size and beauty. Now THIS is a museum! It used to be a fortress before being converted into a museum, which explains its sheer size. Inside, the dizzying map gives testament to the truly awesome task of taking in the Louvre in one day. It cant be done. We quickly cancelled all other plans for the day and resolved to get as much done as possible. Exploring all the sculptures, paintings and other objects from literally every corner of the Earth, and every time period imaginable was an opportunity not to be missed. Our highlights consisted of:

The Glass Pyramid at the entrance
The Sculpture: The Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Sculpture: Venus De Milo
A Statue from the Levant which is dated to 7000BC, if I translated the French Label correctly. 7000BC!!!!!
The hilariously named 'Rishi' coffins from Egypt
The Painting: The Mona Lisa
The Painting: Wedding Feast at Cana, A truly GIGANTIC piece
The Painting: David and Goliath, a double-sided masterpiece
Most of the French Sculptures
and many other paintings by Da Vinci, Louis David and Delacroix in particular.

The visit was truly epic. We managed to get through about 2/3rds of the museum before going home for a break. We then headed out to a pub crawl, which proved a much needed break from site seeing. We met some other Australians, some Canadians and some Swedes. A very diverse group indeed!

Time is almost up so stay tuned. Next stop, BRUSSELS. We are leaving in the morning. Au Revoir Pari!

Leaving For Paris

Hey everyone. Firstly forgive me if I make any spelling mistakes or sentences that do not make any sense. I've had like 4 hours of sleep in about 40 hours and had a bit to drink and still in the process of sobering up.

My flight from Sydney was delayed. Just as we were about to take off, the Australian airspace was randomly shut down. So we were just sitting there like rabbits waiting for the plane to depart for almost 2 hours. When we were finally airborne and finally about to land at my stopover (Hong Kong), we were circling Hong Kong airport for about 30mins since there was traffic. All in all, the flight was delayed by roughly 2 hours although I managed to somehow locate Chris (who thankfully was still waiting) at Heathrow.

From there, we had a bus that would take us to Milton Keynes, where Chris was living for the past three months. Only thing was that we missed the bus due to my delayed flight. Thankfully we managed to get hold of a rescheduled bus and eventually made our way down to Milton Keynes where we enjoyed a nice english breakfast.

We had a lot to organize so we got cracking pretty much right away. After we finished organizing everything, we decided to go to the town center as we both needed to buy a few things. The town center was nothing like I had imagined. It was about 3 times the size of Parramatta Westfield (which is pretty massive). After buying the necessities, we decided that there were two things left to buy if we were to wing this trip completely, The first was a magic 8 ball, and the second were some dice. Why would we need such things? Well, we figured that since we have no idea where and when we are doing things, we figured it would be a 'good' idea to let the magic 8 ball decide for us. Finding a store that sells a magic 8 ball and some dice is easier said than done though, and after about an hour of looking, we finally managed to find a store that sold both. Satisfied that our Eurotrip is still a go, we decided to have a decent dinner before heading off to the pub and say goodbye to Chris's mates here in Milton Keynes.

By saying goodbye, I had no idea it would turn into some sort of beer tasting exhibition and after about 6-7 different beers, we decided it was time to head home. We were not planning to get any sleep since we had to leave in about 2 hours, so we decided just to chill out for a bit before heading out.

So here we are, our Taxi will be here in about 45 mins and we'll be making our way to Kings Cross St. Pancreas (the station from the Harry Potter movies), which will take us to Paris.

Stocked up on Red Bull and falling asleep as we speak, we're gonna soldier on like we said we would and hopefully make it to Paris.

Stay tuned for an update from Paris... if we make it, that is.

Ciao.

Operation: Stuff It In! (Version 2.0)

Just two days left now and “Operation: Stuff It In (Version 2.0)” has officially begun. I thought I should start early and get it done as I suspect Friday will be somewhat hectic. A lot has happened since my last post, I was considering posting earlier but thought it best to wait and write everything in one post.

Let's see... where to begin... Oh, exams are over. If you don't remember, I had been extremely unlucky with my timetable and had 4 exams within the space of 4 days. That may not seem so bad, but these exams went for more than 3 hours each day and by the time I got home (remember, 1 hour travel time to get to uni), I was so exhausted to the point that I couldn't even concentrate for the next exam. My brain felt like it was about to explode, but thankfully, I got it together and managed to put in a huge effort and come out of those four days somewhat unscathed. I think overall, the exams went well. Pretty sure I nailed 3 out of the 4 exams, the other one, i'm relying more on luck than anything else really. Anyways, enough about exams. Let's get to the serious stuff shall we...

Like I said, i've slowly started to pack. When I say slowly, I mean that I haven’t really done anything apart from decide upon what i'm taking and getting organized. I decided that I should tidy my room up a bit first before I get packing properly. I'll need to do a supermarket run to get a few more things, but apart from that i'm pretty much set. It's just a matter of stuffing it all in the backpack, which doesn't sound all that hard but apparently, there's a special way of doing it. I need to drive round Chris's house and pick a few things up for him that I need to bring over, so i'm hoping to get some advice from Matt whilst i'm there as he was the one who helped Chris pack his stuff.

We booked our Eurostar tickets (after slight complications) and we'll be departing London on the 1st of December in the wee hours of the morning (by "wee", I mean we're waking up at like 3am). The hostel in Paris is booked too. Apparently it's a decent hostel, right next to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. So as far as Paris goes, we're pretty much ready. I managed to get hold of a decent Europe guide book too, different to the Lonely Planet one that Chris has. This way, we can compare notes before making certain decisions. I'm saving that for the plane trip as it's almost impossible for me to get any sleep on the plane.

Friday's going to be real crazy. I am probably going to do most of my packing then ie. Actually "stuffing" it all in, but that and Stephen's organized a nice little get-together in the evening at Terry's house (which btw, is the best house for parties), so that should be a nice little farewell thing.

I'll update when I can.

Cheers.

Rishi.

Exploring England

I have been very busy since Barcelona exploring all around Southern England as much as I can. I have almost completed the things i wanted to do while I was here, but I am quickly running out of time. The only places I have left on my to do list is Sheffield University (which is going to be extremely difficult to get to on public transport, hence me waiting this long to go), more sites in London, the Lakes District and Cornwall. Unfortunately, I will only be able to choose one and I really do need to go to Sheffield, so that limits my options.....

The first place I went to was a direct result of the travel bug that hit me at the conclusion of my Barcelona trip. Since then, I have gone somewhere almsot every weekend I have had off except when I was forced to stay home and finish an essay for university. I decided to hop on a train and smell my way to a place called Salisbury in the South-West of England. This place is one of the oldest towns in England, and was the place where the Barons swore allegiance to William the Conquerer following the battle of Hastings in 1066. It is very old. This was the first time I had actually been able to explore a real English town. I found it absolutely incredible that almost EVERYTHING in this place was older than both of my countries COMBINED. What was also interesting was the way people used and lived in buildings and on sites that were so old, and in some cases (especially one building that had been standing since 1206) the original building. It was really very curious from an archaeology perspective :pOne of the main reasons for my visit to Salisbury was the amazing Cathedral there. It has the 4th tallest spire in Europe, and was the first Cathedral I have seen on this trip. It was quite awe inspiring to say the least, and I spent a long time walking around the grounds and reading all the gravestones and internments.There was also a great many war memorials in the Cathedral itself, specifically from the Boer Wars in South Africa. I suppose the regiment from the area must have been heavily involved. In fact, the countryside around Salisbury used to be the major training grounds for the Allied forces in preperation for Operation Overlord and the subsequent landings. Apparently there are a few ANZAC memorials around the area too. So the area is steeped in military history.

My main purpose here was to catch another bus and head to STONEHENGE! I was really excited about this, despite almost everyone I have ever mentioned this too telling me that I was goingto be dissapointed. They were wrong.I suppose it makes a difference when you have such an interest in the material. When you have read about it a hundred times, thought about how it would have been constructed, pondered on the transportation process. The monument itself is not impressive, but it was built almost 5000 years ago people! I mean if that itself isnt something to give you Ancient History tingles, then I have given up on you. It was really quite mysterious. No one knows for sure what it was used for or why it was built. However, when you consider there are almost 300 grave mounds all within a 1.5km radius around Stonehenge, you get a sense of how important it was. Spooky!

The next day I made my way to Winchester. This place was even more historically important than Salisbury. It was the capital of Saxon England under the incredible King Albert the Great No other King of England has received that epitaph, and for good reason. Albert created the place that we could call 'England'. He pushed back the Viking invaders and formed a state that would eventually become what we now know as England. Needless to say, Winchester is important. It is also home to an even more impressive Cathedral than Salisbury, although in different ways.

I wondered for ages around the side streets of Winchester, lapping it up.Before heading back home to get ready for another week at work, I managed to find the unmarked gravestone of King Albert. He is buried in the grounds of a very small church marked only by a plane gravestone with an incised cross. Quite thought rovoking considering he was one of Englands most important kings.

The next week I decided I just HAD to start my tours of Universities in England with Oxford. It was surprisingly easy to get to and only involved a 40 minute bus trip. I had been in contact wiht one of my friends from the dig, Flo. She is a PHD student at Kings College in London, but is familiar with Oxford and has spent some time there. She was kind enough to show me around some of the colleges and explain to me how the system worked.I can't describe the feeling of Oxford. It had such a buzz to it. The university IS the city. The students are its citizens. Everyone is running around talking about university related shennanigans. The colleges are imposing and impressive. YOu are reminded at every single turn that this is one of the most revered institutions in the world and about the incredible people that have studied here. I absolutely LOVED the feeling of the place. I never really saw Oxford as an option for my post-graduate study, but I can easily see myself thouroughly enjoying it there. Its quite intimidating because I will have an incredible amount of work ahead of me if I want to make the leap but i am sure it would be worth it.

The next week Ben, a very good friend of mine over here, came back to visit. He is currently working at another site but comes around every now and then to hang out. We decided to do a road trip down to Canterbury to check out the cathedral over there as it is supposed to be one of the most impressive in England both architecturally and historically. The drive down was awesome. Juiced up on Energy drinks with Guns and Roses and the White Stripes blaring in the background, we made the 3 hour drive in Bens horrible little Nissan Micra that threatens to explode at any speeds over 30 miles an hour.It was amazing. The Cathedral was pretty good too. Its the spot where Thomas Beckett was famously assasinated by the knights of King Henry (I forget which one :p) and has become one of the major pilgrimage spots in England.While there we also saw the tomb of the Black Prince, and the catacombs underneath the Cathedral. We were going to stay the night there and head to the cliffs of Dover in the morning, but we had trouble finding a place to sleep and decided just to head home and hook up with the rest of the crew back at Wavendon.

My next trip only happened 2 weeks later due to a rather large obstacle in the form of an essay for the one and only course I am enrolled in at University this semester (Yes, as hard as it is to believe, I have still managed to do a course while travelling). I wanted to continue my tour around English universities by heading to Cambridge.It was very similar to Oxford in many ways, including the system and structures that seem to be in place. However, it had a very different feel to it. It was much more laid back than Oxford and much more spread out. It also reminded me a little more of a university as I know it. The colleges were still incredibly impressive, and the entire place stooped in history with graduates such as Winston Churchill, Darwin and Isaac Newton.I managed to explore the actual lecture halls and check out the archaeology museum there, along with the classical library. Lets just say that the facilities knocked my socks off. I really dont know whether I like Oxford or Cambridge more, they both have their pros and cons. However, Cambridge DOES have 'Do Not Walk on the Grass!' signs in seven different languages.....
Now I only have a couple of weeks left here in England, and while all the travelling has been fantastic, the work has been very very draining and frustrating. I have so much to do before I leave so I wont be having much more free time. I will try make time for Sheffield University next week, but other than that I will be buying cold weather clothes and replenishing my backpacking supplies before meeting Rishi at the airport on the 29th of November. I cant wait. It cant come soon enough.

It's (almost)... November!

Hey everyone! It's pretty much November now. You do know what that means right? Yes, i'm departing at the end of the month.

FINALLY.

Okay. Before I ramble on about stuff, I think I should clear up something first. Just thought i'd offer some explanation on why I haven't been posting here at all. I have been around and like you, keeping up-to-date with Chris's adventures. To be perfectly honest, there hasn't been much I could update you with. Not much is happening here in Sydney. For me, it's the same routine day-to-day, a mix between sleeping, uni, work, going out and studying. I've just been SUPER busy. Uni has literally been owning me this semester, pretty much the toughest semester i've ever had, and now with exams looming over my head, all I can think about is the Eurotrip. I don't think i'll be able to concentrate at all during exams and i'm still wondering how exactly Chris managed this (got any tips for me mate?). That being said, i've got the most SCREWED up exam timetable ever (basically, 4 exams in 4 days straight), but I can't complain, at least my exams end before I need to depart.

Now for some good news. I managed to reach my savings target some time ago and now should have enough money saved up to fund the trip. If it wasn't for the silly financial crisis that we're currently in, we'd technically have a lot more saved up. The exchange rate has dropped drastically over the past few months, which basically sucks. The timing of it is bad, especially since Europe is so damn expensive in the first place. We're going to have to budget even more than we initially planned. Relax guys, i'm not talking about starving and sleeping out on the streets with our sleeping bags (at least, I hope not).

My last work shift for the pots and pans place was on Sunday. That's right, as of this moment, I have no job and will be focusing on the exams ahead (or trying to, procrastination is sort-of getting in the way at the moment). Believe it or not, I worked there for over 2 years and can't believe how fast it's gone. 180 days ago, I was sitting here wondering how i'm ever going to be able to save for this trip, it feels great to know that you now have enough money and all that's left standing in your way now are the number of days until departure. Okay, so like I said, i've completed saving up and have quit work so that I can focus on studying. Sorry for all you people that were hoping for some discount on pots and pans (lol).

Some more news on the trip; I went to STA travel last week and purchased Eurail passes for both me and Chris. For those of you who forgot and for those who simply had no clue, a Eurail pass is an inter-rail pass which allows us to travel to 20 different countries in Europe for 15 days/uses within a 2 month period. It's basically a prepaid travel ticket and it's a cost-effective way of travelling through Europe. Works out a lot cheaper than buying each ticket individually, not to mention how convenient it is not to worry about planning and such. These tickets don't come cheap, but work out better overall. I picked them up today and they give you a whole rail map of Europe (it's huge) and also a timetable book which i'm sure will be handy. We were going to buy our passes separately, but STA travel has them a lot cheaper than buying them online, so we thought we'd save some money and i'll purchase the tickets from here. Ofcourse, we're "winging" the entire trip, so basically have little or no idea when and where we're going. As you know, we've got a tentative plan, but the Eurail pass offers us the flexibility we need. Chris will be booking our Eurostar tickets from London (that's to go from London to Paris, Eurail passes don't cover this). Only other thing left is the hostel booking in Paris, but that should be easy.

In terms of planning for the trip ahead, there's not much left for me to buy. I still need to get my full driving license. It's almost expired I think. I had planned to get it like what, 5 months ago. Haha, talk about laziness. Anyways, my exams finish on the 19th of November and I fly out on the 29th. I still have a 10 day period in which I can finish planning/packing which is PLENTY of time (I hope?). Oh, and i've made some changes to the blog. Our route through Europe map can now be accessible on the right-side of the page.

Again, i'd like to apologize for my lack of posts here, but i'll be updating more frequently now since my departure date looks a lot more realistic.

Stay tuned. Cheers.

Rishi

Barcelona: City of Gaudi

I KNOW I KNOW! I havent posted anything in a good long while. There are no excuses. I got lazy. However, now at least I have something to write about! The last couple of weeks have been a hive of activity from my end, contrasting heavily with the previous months of relatively no travel. A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a much needed holiday from work and Milton Keynes in general. I took off to Barcelona, Spain.

This trip had actually been planned ever since I had left Sydney. Kezia was going to be stopping in Spain for a couple of weeks after her trip around Europe, and we decided it would be very poor form indeed not to meet in Barcelona considering it is only an hour and a half flight from London. Quite conveniently, this trip fell almost exactly at the halfway point in my work here in England, so served as a nice break. Needless to say, getting on the road again was fantastic, and really revitalised me.

The story actually starts the night before my departure for Barcelona. I had booked a flight which took off at 5am in the morning, as this was a much cheaper option than a departure in more sane hours of the day (and for good reason!). Ben, one of my very good mates over here, offered to drive me to Luton Airport in the morning, but the problem was that we were working that night and would only finish at 11-12ish. As completely responsible adults, we decided that it was futile to try go to sleep for such a short period of time, so proceeded to juice ourselves up on 'Monster' energy drinks and push through the night. Needless to say, we had some good fun and quite surprisingly made it through the night and to the airport on time and without serious injury.

Upon my arrival in Barcelona, Kezia greated me at the door and we had a very happy reunion. Bubbling with stories from both of our trips, we decided to go set me up at the hostel first and then go do some site seeing around the city. I had heard a lot about Barcelona's Barri Gotic Cathedral so wanted to go find this first. With a rough idea of where it was, we set off down the famous 'La Rambla' street, a pedestrian boulevard that is world famous as being choked full of life, cafes, stalls, artists, buskers and human statues. It really is a blur of activity, and proved a perfect introduction to the delights of Barcelona. We didnt find the Cathedral straight away, but explored around the side streets and just absorbed the charm and relaxed, yet extremely bustling feel of the city. We eventually found the Cathedral, but it was late on a sunday so it was closed to tourists. Unfortunately, most of the facade was covered by construction material as they are trying to restore it so it was not as impressive as it otherwise would have been. What was visible looked quite special. We checked out the Picasso museum, which houses 4000 works of the artist. We were.....educated and enlightened. Maybe? We arent sure yet.
We then made our way down to the beach to relax, soak up the sun (OH HOW I MISSED THEE!) and munch on ice-cream. The plan of action was then to head into the city again and check out 'La Sagrada Familia', apparently another church/temple/cathedral that I had heard mutterings about. How under-rated it was. This building was the most impressive piece of architecture I have ever seen, AND I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF ARCHITECTURE! It was gigantic, rising up above everything else in the city. It was designed by the famous architect, Gaudi, whose works are dotted all through Barcelona.
Construction started in 1882, and will only be completed in around 2020. There will eventually be 18 towers all over 100m high, representing the 12 Apostles, 4 Evangelists, Mary, and the the tallest tower (170m) will represent Jesus Christ. ALthough it is a construction site, you are still able to tour around parts of the impressive temple. We were unable to go inside on this occasion, as we had just missed closing time, but the facade on the northeast and northwestern side of the building are extremely detailed, and we had a great time picking out the different scenes depicted.

Our next stop was Parc Guell, and the house of Gaudi. This place has been converted into a public park, but its landscaping is clearly dotted with Gaudi's influence. It was a very interesting place to walk through and observe the experimentation he implemented in his own backyard. We had a great time strolling, and then climbed to the top of the hill and looked over the city towards the sea for the sunset (which set BEHIND US kezia. BEHIND US!) before making our way back to the hostel, including the interesting experience of sleeping through your train stop on the Spanish rail service.

The next day consisted of us walking all around Barcelona in a never ending tour. We tried to get into both the Cathedrals again, but for one reason or another this didnt happen. We saw a large monument to Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America, climbed up the Central Park called 'Montjuic' and made it to the castle at the top, which had spectacular views of all sides of Barcelona. We then had dinner on La Rambla, which wasnt as amazing as it should have been. After going out for a couple of drinks, we decided to call it a day.

Finally we managed to get inside the Cathedrals the next day, but only after having the best bagel of my life. They were equally impressive inside as out. LaSagrada Famila in particular really needs to be seen to be believed. It really takes your breath away. It is SO big, but seemingly so light. The roof should not be staying up. There is so much empty space inside, and this jsut adds to its magnificence. The Barri Gotic was also impressive, but in a different way. Big and imposing, it had a sort of grace and beauty on the inside, which I assume is what the architect was aiming for. Needless to say, both these places would be amazing to go to church in. The girls then wanted to do bunch of shopping, so we went exploring in all these chic, classy and fashionable clothes stores. I bought nothing :D.

Our last day in Barcelona was really just a kind of limbo. With the prospect of us leaving hanging over us, we really couldnt do very much. We wondered around La Rambla again, stopping to take in a rather skillfill Michael Jakson/robot statue man. After strolling a bit, we had some more ice cream, and then decided it was time to depart. We went to the tube station, where we were to part ways again and had a very teary farewell. It was very difficult to say goodbye, as we had had such a fantastic time, and would have to wait anohter 4 months to do it again. All in all, it was a very healthy experience for me. I returned revitalised and recharged, ready to take on work and England again. Needless to say, I was once again shocked out of lethargy and bitten by the travel bug. This led directly to my next extremely random, but equally exciting adventure......

Work Work Work

Well it has been quite a while since my last post. Be that as it may, there really hasnt been much happening here in England worth writing about. Shift work is thouroughly disinteresting, and it has become a matter of trying to get though the day to day. When we arrived at the Wavendon Arms, the pub was going through quite a tight spot. We have been working extremely hard in trying to turn fortunes around and in this we have been somewhat successful. The front of house service has been completely turned around, but the kitchen still needs a lot of work. We have started to completely fill the restaurant twice over on the weekends, but the weekdays are still pretty quiet. We have a little bit to go, but we are almost there after a month of work.

The people I work with are pretty cool. I live with them and see them almost every day, so its no surprise that we are becoming pretty good friends. The people that live in my house are Dean, an aircraft engineer from Darwin, the twins, Ashley and Danielle who have just completed 3 months at a summer camp in the US, Brandon who has moved here from Cape Town and Thomas from
Slovakia. Along with the locals, Jon, Hannah , Olly and a multitude of others, form the rest of the core group that run the pub. I share a room with Dean and Brandon, but I get on the best with Dean. Needless to say we all have a lot to do with each other and these people form the general social circle with which I hang out.

While working at the Wavendon Arms is quite tough (not so much the actual work that has to get done, but the whole monotany and seeming pointlessness of it all), there are lights at the end of the preverbial tunnel. First and foremost, of course, is the backpacking with Rishi at the end of the year, which is what all this is in aid of financially. It is this that really does keep me going and the prospect of the amazing adventure to come. I will also be travelling to Spain soon to visit Kezia who will be finishing up her travelling in Europe. With these things to look forward to, I am able to push on with the work here at the Wavendon.

I was fortunate enough to make the trip into London to visit the British Museum this week. After a months break from anything to do with ancient history, going to possibly the most prominent of all ancient history museums was a real treat. The whole place is absolutely HUGE. I had no idea how long it would actually take me to get through it. I set aside an entire day, but I only managed to get through about 2 thirds of the Greek and Roman section in 5 hours. It was almost comical. I thouroughly enjoyed being around ancient history again, and returned to Milton Keynes recharged.

I hope to make other trips in and around England soon, as sitting at home here in Milton Keynes is rather pointless (even though it does have the benefit of saving a ton of money). I will hopefully be visiting a number of universities while I am here including Kings College in London, UCL and the University of Sheffield in order to scout out possible post-graduate options. I also want to visit Stone Henge, the Lakes District, Edinburough and Ireland. I probably wont be able to do everything, but I can always give it a go!

Until I have something else worthy to report!

Chris