Epilogue: Edinburgh Part 2

Epilogue: Edinburgh Part 1

So these videos are about 6 months late in coming, but I thought it would be nice to finally edit them, get them up, and give this travel blog some closing.

In the first Scotland video, I mumble about Edinburgh Castle for a bit, and then have footage of us climbing Arthur's Seat (the big hill right outside the city).

Coming up in part 2 is just a collage of footage I took during my experience at a ceilidh (KAY-lee) at the University of Edinburgh. That night was sponsored by the astronomy club or something, so that big planet-esque thing above the dance floor is, in fact, Jupiter.


Hopefully in the next week or so I will go back through all my footage I have yet to share (several hours worth) and pull out some gems to put up as part of this blog as a kind of epilogue to my time spent abroad. It's partly me wanting to finish the blog and give it a sense of finality, but mostly it's nostalgia.

Favo(u)rites and Nots

Before I leave London for my triumphant (?) return to the States, I thought I'd give you a quick list of my favorite and least favorite things in London. Even though I leave in a day or so, I will keep updating the blog with back footage. Keep checking back!


Top 10 Favo(u)rite London Things
1. TeaSmith
2. Ithaca College London Center Staff
3. Royal College of Muisc (Janet Hilton)
4. Jogging in Hyde Park
5. San Marino paninni shop in Brixton
6. TheLondonPaper
7. The Tube
8. Hell Pizza
9. Brixton Tube Station
10. Sainsbury's

Top 10 Least Favo(u)rite London Things
1. Oxford Street
2. 8:15 Rush of Business Suit wearing Blackberry wielders on the District Line
3. The Circle Line
4. Marks and Spencer
5. Harrod's
6. Pret a Manger
7. Tourists (how ironic...)
8. The London Lite
9. People feeding pigeons in just about every public space
10. Pay-as-you-pee style restrooms

EdinBORING

So I have to apologize: Last post, I said something ridiculous like "I'll have a video up for you soon, Saturday AT THE LATEST" Well, that was false. Last night I started going through the footage I took in Edinburgh and slowly came to the realization that it isn't very exciting. I mean, there are a few moments but there are a LOT of moments of me just talking nonsense to myself.

So until I can figure out a decent way to put what I have together, I'll just stick to posting boring words.

One thing you should do: Comment on this post with your favorite video moments for my "The Best Of" video that will inevitably happen after I leave London. I don't want that video to only be my favorite moments you see.

Thought of the day:
Why do the British insist on taking strange food words and spelling them even more strangely?

Hummus becomes Hummous
Rooibos becomes Rooibosch
Yogurt becomes Yoghurt
and Soy becomes Soya

Final Crunch Time?

So, I have a few things to do before I am finished with school. Literally, finished with my undergraduate degree. Scary? Nah. Exciting? You bet. Busy? Not really, but since I put a lot of stuff off, moderately so.

Coming up later in the week (Thurs, Fri. or Saturday at the latest) I will have some footage (Great Scot!) and a trip to the zoo.

As my time in London is diminishing rather quickly, if there is anything you want me to report on in the blog, please let me know.

ALSO:
Think about your favorite moments from the videos I posted this year. I quite like the idea of a "Best of London" video that has all of my (and yours!) favorite clips all strung together into a masterful work of art that will make you laugh, cry, and crave a hefty serving of brown rice. I will of course take into consideration any requests that people put forward in comments or e-mails to me.

Have a great week everyone, happy Monday...

26 Things that are worse than haggis

First of all, I'm being completely honest here and anyone who disagrees is welcome engage me in open debate- bring it on!

Twenty-six things that are worse than haggis:

1) Mayonnaise
2) Ketchup that is too vinegary
3) Tuna fish
4) Cottage cheese
5) Marmite
7) Vinegar
8) Milk
9) Egg smell
10) Mushrooms
11) Pâté
12) Guacamole
13) Asparagus
14) Cherry tomatoes
15) Regular tomatoes
16) Crab cakes
17) Chick peas
18) Hummus
19) Sauerkraut
20) Coleslaw
21) Potato salad
22) Macaroni salad
23) Turkey gravy
24) Giblets
25) Creme Soda
26) Coconut milk

In all honesty, the stuff really isn't that bad at all. I could eat it regularly if I wanted to... and if I lived in Scotland.

Edinburgh Photos

Well I made it back from Scotland alright and had a great time! Sure the weather was a bit gloomy for 80% of the trip, but overall it went very well.

For now, I'll give you some photos to check out but you should look forward to some cool vids in the coming week.
Climbing an epic hill? Rob doing traditional Scottish dancing? There is that possibility...

Edinburgh Album

Conclusion

This weekend, I'll be going to Scotland with Bill, Sarah, and co. Hopefully I will have some inspiring video to share upon my return.

Moderately amusing? Perhaps. Inspiring? Definitely not.

Great Deal of Adventure

The rest of the adventure will be out soon...

Trailer

This speaks for itself...

France Footage

Hi folks,

So it's been a little while, but for (almost) good reason. I've had some visitors lately (Leo from Germany, and Josh from Spain) and have gone on some adventures that I hope to share with you soon.

I put together the best of the France videos and realized that I didn't record nearly as much as I should. I was probably too distracted by trying to remember how to speak French... It's hard for me. I hope you enjoy what is here anyways.

Stay tuned later this week for a great deal of fun times with Josh!

Ten Banana Cream Pies!

Actually, no pies. But I have been whipping up some simple bakery-type things in the kitchen to contribute to the bake sale being held at the school this week. For today I made chocolate chip cookies, tomorrow is fudgey no bake cookies.

That's just my lame excuse for not putting up any new blog entries lately...

I'll get to it soon!

Eye Spy

So my friend Leonie is visiting me in London this week so we have a few different "touristy" things planned and actually, the other day we went on the London Eye. In case you aren't familiar with it, it is a large circular thing kind of like a ferris wheel that has glass pods that give a good view of the city. It was built for the millenium celebration I think and they decided to make it a permanent thing (tourists=$$$).

Here is a picture of it from across the river from my first days in London...

And here is a real quick edit of footage taken on the eye.

Blogathon Episode 3: The Sean Show!

So one time we went walking along the Thames at night. This video may not be remotely amusing but I'm putting it up anyways.

It makes me laugh- but really, what doesn't?

For Sarah

Moral of the story: Give Rob challenges to keep him from getting bored.

What does Rob do in London you ask?

This is of course, only a fraction of the many exciting activities that I pursue. Sunday afternoons I spend 3 hours watching my tulips grow and on Wednesday nights I go curling... Or play shuffleboard. Whichever is more boring.

Pikture Perfikt

I've uploaded some new photos to my London album (nothing great) and have added a France album. Here are les links.

London Album

France Album

And for good measure, here's an old picture of my brother... I guess we'll find out if he follows the blog regularly ;)

My friend, Mr. Satie

"I have come into the world very young in a time that is very old"- Erik Satie

So a little background information for anyone unfamiliar with Erik Satie (Don't fret, most people are!). I'll be quite brief, but do look him up on the internet or in one of those ancient artifacts consisting of bound paper...

Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer who is known for being an eccentric, writing "simple" music with odd titles, and for his bohemian connection with the Montmartre district of Paris. His most popular pieces are the 3 Gymnopédies that were among his first published pieces in 1888. While these pieces are simply mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, and timeless, you really need to listen to music from later periods in his life to fully appreciate his artistic genius. I recommend checking out music from the ballet Parade if you can find it. Another favorite of mine is the set Les Trois Valses Distinguées Du Précieux Dégoûté which show off a bit more of a chromatic and dissonant side... Anyways, don't miss out on all the great music he has composed by getting caught up only in the Gynopédies and Gnossienes, as great as they are... Satie shared a friendship, albeit sometimes stormy, with the much more famous composer Claude Debussy. I am personally of the opinion that without Satie, we wouldn't have the Debussy that we know today, but of course, I am one person. Satie had some influence on Igor Stravinsky and was greatly admired by John Cage. Other than minimal footnotes talking about "that strange little Parisian Erik Satie", he is hardly talked about in music history which I think is too bad...

Right, so the reason for the back story is that while Haley and I took a short holiday to France last weekend, one of the side-quests we embarked on was an Erik Satie tour. We began in the Parisian suburb of Arcueil where Satie lived for the last 20 some years of his life. We took a bus from the center of the city and after a 20 minute walk, arrived at the beautiful cemetery in Arcueil where Mr. Satie is buried.



Later that day, we went to Montmartre and stopped by No. 6 Rue Cortot which was a tiny apartment he lived in for a few years.




While there used to be an Erik Satie museum in this very place years ago, today it is simply an average apartment building. There is, however, a museum of all things Satie in his hometown of Honfleur... So we went there on Sunday! Honfleur is a port up in the Normandy region of France and sadly, is overflowing with tourists from all over France, Europe, and the world. Down a quiet street away from the throngs is the Maison de Satie, an interesting museum that features artifacts, music, and information about the composer. While parts of the museum were odd and not exactly relevant - i.e. they just had some weird stuff playing off of the "quirky composer" motif- other parts were great. I really appreciated that they played a wide variety of his music and that you didn't walk from room to room only hearing Gymnopédie No. 1 on a loop. I also enjoyed the footage at the end of the walk that shows clips from productions of his ballets and collaborations, including the film segment of Relâche which shows an aging Satie loading a cannon with some others goofing around. He wrote music to accompany the film frame by frame and it was said that this was one of the first silent films to have music composed for it in this manner. Anyways, here are some pictures of the exterior.



Did I mention it is in the house where he was born? Yeah, very neat.



I hope to put some footage from the French trip up in the next week or so.

Resolution No. 9

Alright, so no apology can really make up for the lack of blogging on my part in the past few weeks - or for the false promises presented in the last video post. But here, I shall put forth my resolve to, henceforth, provide an entertaining and insightful look into my adventures abroad and to make up for lost time. I have approximately 7 weeks- cheer me on and keep me on task!

Coming soon:
*France in a nutshell
*Erik Satie from end to beginning
*Tea things
*France videos
*No more shenanigans!

A 2 Hour Adventure

Tonight was going to be great.
It was destiny.
Let me tell you a tale about joy, sorrow, anger, loss, and life.

To set the scene, you should know that tonight was a scheduled "Tea and Chocolate Tasting Event" hosted by TeaSmith and some fancy-dancy chocolatier from 6-8 and and another from 8-10. I have been looking forward to this unique event for the past few weeks. I've had the flier in my things and was more than happy to pay the £50 bill. These are some really great teas!
You should also know that drinking good tea is probably my single most favorite thing to do. This is no exagguration. Lastly, I should mention that my inner monologue is usually a very happy place. Let me begin...

I had a clarinet lesson (which went quite well, thanks for asking) from 4:30-5:30 which has little to do with the story other than it rules out the 6-8 session. There was no way I could get to the east end of town that quickly and not be super stressed out. I like giving myself 15 minutes of cushion time when going to events such as this. The next best thing was to have a quick bite to eat and leave for tea at five to 7. I think I was singing Chicago on my way to the tube station. It was a great thing.

I had picked up the free London Paper earlier and planned on reading it and doing Sudoku during the long underground ride so I pulled it out and read some movie reviews. Things were going smoothly, I looked up at the map and counted 8 more stops until Liverpool St. (right near TeaSmith) and checked my watch to see that it was 7:25. Good. Now to figure out where I can put some more 9s...

7:35. 5 more stations to go... Except... We haven't left this station for a few minutes. Something is up. The announcement that we are being held at a red signal (a regular occurrence) and will be on our way shortly was barely heard over the loud speaker. I went back to sudoku.

5 minutes later... Another announcement. This time, the thought occurs to me to get off the tube, go back a station, go up the Northern Line 3 stops, and then take the Central Line over 5 stops. Does it make sense to take 8 stops and change lines twice right now? No, as soon as I leave this train, it will start moving again. I decide to stay. I'm not humming anything anymore.

It's 7:45. The announcement is made that it is unlikely that the train will be moving for a while. Passengers should seek alternative routes to continue eastward. Looking around, I see only 5 or 6 others still in the car. I give in. I get off and leave the station thinking that there ought to be a bus that is headed to Liverpool St. I look over the bus map and schedule quickly. I need #11. Look around at the signs. Nothing of the sort. Greeeat... Think fast, what should I do? I go back down to get on the next westbound train to change the previous station... My plan B from 10 minutes ago...

So now it's 7:51, I'm on a Northern Line Train with 9 stops and one switch to be made until I get to tea. I am not going to be on time. Now, as I type this, it sounds ridiculous, but at 7:52 PM on Thursday, March 12th 2009, I was seething with anger. I couldn't think of a time when I was more angry. The high point of my day, my week even, and I would not be there on time to enjoy the first tea and chocolate pair. To top it off, I really had to use the loo and if things had worked out as planned, I would have arrived with 10 or 15 minutes to spare. RAAARH! In my period of blind rage (7:52 to about 8:17) I had several thoughts. One being- "I should just go home. There is no point in going to tea and being all angry and pouty there. I should just go back and wallow alone..."
Another was "I can't believe this. I simply cannot believe the one time I need the tube to be decent, it is all messed up."
I think another good one was "Well, I'll only be 10 minutes late..."

But no, I didn't go home. I realized that it would be the foolish choice. The smart choice was to continue on, and make the most of it. In fact, in a moment of clarity, I realized that the tea would be so amazingly incredible that it would make up for all of this nonsense. Oh- then I got on the Westbound train at Holborn and missed the Eastbound one at the platform, costing me another 3 1/2 minutes. The anger returned.

I remember walking quickly. I always walk quickly, but I have a feeling that this was even faster than usual. It was 8:15 when I was going up the escalator at Liverpool St. Station and I knew It would take about 5 minutes to get to the tea shop... Outside the station, I broke into a jog across the street and continued at that pace until the sign of the tea place was in view.
"Ahhh, tea at least." I knew things would only get better from here. I came around to the door and thought it odd that the lights were out.

...

I assumed that the event would be held downstairs, so I thought that maybe they had turned the upstairs lights off so that people knew that the Tea Bar wasn't open. Then I saw it. There was a door with a buzzer and what appeared to be a set of stairs behind some tinted glass (the light was on). It shared the number 6 with TeaSmith so I thought "Aha. This must be a seperate entrance to the basement where the tea event is happening." I pushed the buzzer.

A minute later, an older man appears (in his 70s I'd say) and greets me with a smile. I think that he must be the chocolate master or a friend of the owner come to let me in.
"Is this the tea thing?" I pant.
"Pardon?" He says. I realized I wasn't being coherent.
"Is this the tea shop?" I revised.
"Oh no, they are next door." He said as he stepped out to turn and show me. "Oh, it seems they are closed."
I explained that there was a tea event going on tonight and that I thought his door was another entrance and apologized for the misunderstanding and thanked him for his time. He was a real gentleman.

Well, to try to understand what was going on with the world at this particular moment, I went around to the entrance from inside the market. Still dark and even worse, I could see that there were no lights on in the basement either. What on earth could have happened? How could I have messed this up? Well, for the time being, it shall remain a mystery- I have no idea what happened or where they are having tea and chocolate at this very moment... without me. When I learn the meaning of this, I will let you know...

So, I went to the loo, thank goodness, and walked (quite slowly) around the block once just to see if I spotted any of the familiar TeaSmith faces in a nearby building laughing, singing, drinking tea, and eating chocolate-covered happiness but nothing... I walked back to Liverpool St. Station trying to think of the saddest song I know that I could hum on the train ride home. Nothing seemed sad enough. In the station, I spotted a kiosk with a man selling mix and match gummy candies and other such things. This is what I needed to keep my hour and a half long journey from reducing me to tears. I counted up the change in my pocket, £2.25, and picked out what I thought was a conservative amount of gummies to buy. I was only up to 1.17- I took the bag again to add to it. Thanks to the chewy nuts (some kind of ungodly hard nuts covered with caramel and chocolate) gummy pig heads (yep, they look exactly like what you;d think), I weighed in at precisely £2.23. This fact alone was enough to brighten my night a good 14%. I ate the bag as I walked back to the underground and took the piccadilly line home.

It took some time, some walking-off, and £2 worth of gummy candies to calm me down, but what I finally realized on the ride home was simple. Between the line breaking down, and the lights being off, I should have realized sooner. I was simply not meant to go to tea tonight.
It was destiny.

Blog Hangman

Why not? Guess letters for the phrase below by leaving comments. I'll update when I can.

RO-OT KA--AROO- ATTACK TOK-O AT ---R--E


Good luck?

What?! An Update?

It's like return of the jedi. Except with 100% less jedi.

Nothing

So I haven't posted anything on here in the last couple of days. Sorry. I haven't traveled at all this week and I don't feel like I have anything exciting to contribute at the moment. Consider this my blogging "week off" if you will. I should have at least something to share the next couple of weeks.

Can you believe that it's almost March? Crazy.

TeaSmith

Since I didn't travel at all this weekend, I figured I should contribute something to the blog...

This is probably the coolest tea shop I've been to. Now, for someone who likes tea so much, I admit that I haven't been to many tea shops. Hopefully, once I am in Evanston, that'll change. But right - the reason it is great is because it is a local shop owned by a tea enthusiast. Now, the shop looks very sleek and nice, it looks like it could be a big franchise or something. But anyways, what sets this place apart:

* Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. The owner, John, is really great and will tell you anything you want to know about the tea that you are drinking. All the employees know how to correctly make each kind of tea (water temperature, infusion time, which pot to use, set-up, etc.) and can tell you about the teas as well.

* High quality teas. Goes without saying - this is a crucial factor! John has been to China and Japan quite a bit (his wife is Japanese so they visit family a lot) and he personally selects the teas from the harvests that he wants to sell and has them shipped back to London.

* The tea bar. In addition to being able to go into this little shop and buying various quantities of dozens of varieties of loose leaf tea, there is a "tea bar" which is basically that. You sit on a stool and order from a menu of various teas. Then, they make the tea in front of you (so it's an educational experience too because each tea requires different preparations) and serve it. Depending on the tea, the leaves get re-infused several times, usually 3-5 times. I had an oolong infused 6 or 7 times a few weeks ago!

This tea bar is really one of my favorite things ever. It is the perfect place to try different high quality teas that are prepared just right. For instance, I don't think I ever made Gyokuro correctly- you are supposed to use twice as much leaf and half as much water as you would a typical Japanese green tea. The Gyokuro John gave me at TeaSmith was enlightening. After several infusions, he gave me the leaves on a plate with a fork and I ate them. It sounded bizarre to me too, don't worry- but it was really swell. After a few infusions, the gykuro leaves are a good texture and slightly sweet to the taste. Talk about getting my money's worth! For £10, you don't want anything less.

Prices for the teas at the tea bar range from £3.50 to £5, £10, £15, and even more for some of the really rare oolongs and pu-erh teas that were hand selected from the last season. I highly recommend trying any, if not all of their teas. I am slowly trying as many as I can. I go there on Sunday afternoons to chat it up with the employees and just enjoy as much tea as I can handle.

This is my cup and plate of infused gyokuro leaves after I finished drinking the tea.

Check out the TeaSmith website. You can even order online.

Liverpool Video

Okay! So here is the epic-sized Liverpool video in three parts. It's pretty long, but there are lots of fun moments that you shouldn't miss. Check it out:

Sorry for the Delay(s)

So when I said that the schools were going to be on Half-Term Break this week and that I would have a lot of free time to make the Liverpool video and other productive things, what I should have said was that I would end up wasting most of Monday and Tuesday getting absolutely nothing done. Sorry about that. I've had some tea, listened to some Chicago II, and I am ready to go. Honestly, the video is about half done at this point so hopefully I will finish it tonight and have it up early tomorrow- we'll see!

I almost forgot about my Berlin photo contest. You remember, the "What is THIS??" quiz. Well, no one got the correct answer, but Ernest was pretty close. But really, only three people bothered to respond? Pshhhhhhh. I guess this means no more contests on this blog. Unless someone wants to convince me otherwise.

ANYWAYS, here is a better picture and some explanation:


Which was apparently created in 2005 by Stefano Bombardieri, an Italian sculptor.

Stay tuned for Liverpool, The Beatles, and a pirate (?).

Liverpudlian Photos

So you can see the updated photo album here as always. But here are some of my favorites:

Half-Term

So this week is the Half-Term break for all the schools that I teach at - which means I have about 15 extra hours of free time this week! Horovitz Movement 3 and Kovacs- R. Strauss Homage, watch out...

I am hoping to share pictures and video from Liverpool with you in the next couple of days but I'm not promising anything spectacular- In fact, let me remind you that I never promise anything spectacular. Ex. Typo at the end of my Berlin video... errr.

But in the meantime, here is a photo of me setting up the djembes at one of my schools last week. Yes, this is what I want to do the rest of my life :)

Photo Time

The before and after shots of the currywurst...

And the soup I had at the Vietnamese place-


And lastly some cool drinks. Apfelschorle on the right, and KiBa (cherry and banana juice) on the left.



To check out the other decent pictures, check out my Facebook album. Actually, maybe I should add more, there aren't many posted out of the 180 I took.

Liverpool tomorrow! I am currently trying to solve one of Bill's riddles... Sneaky sneaky

Video Fail

So I lose for trying to upload a video that is over 10 minutes in length. I'll fix it up when I get back to my computer tonight - I apologize for that. I'll have to find a nice place to cut it in two parts.

In other news, I just had a great hot ham and cheese baguette.

Rob Goes to Berlin

Alright, newly edited, here is the video in two parts. Enjoy

"Entshuldigung, Hagebutten? Los!"

So here is the part where I provide a LONG boring text description of my adventures in Berlin. I promise I'll get photos and the video up soon. It is necessary since I will be going to Liverpool this weekend and will surely have more footage and pictures than I will know what to do with.

So Thursday was a pretty normal day- teaching 9-year-old children fun patterns on the djembe, keeping them from hitting the glockenspiels when they shouldn't be, making sure they are paying attention and play the glockenspiels when they are supposed to... It really is a lot of fun - I always leave teaching in a really great mood. But anyways, this post is about Germany! After school, I had to do some learning myself so I went off to British Pop which is a lot of fun. Our professor is very knowledgeable about pop music in general and specifically UK pop. More importantly, she is really into it and I always look forward to going to that class. Thursday was Beatles day since we are off to Liverpool soon, we should learn about those crazy kids first. Okay okay, really, I'll talk about Berlin...

So I was off to Victoria station immediately after class. I packed all of my things (3 shirts, some sweaters, some pants, a toothbrush, and a book to read) into my backpack earlier on Thursday and was happy that It all fit rather comfortably in my bag. Once at the station I became immediately displeased with the fact that a one-way ticket on the Gatwick Express was £16.90. Really now. Next time I will buying a moped, drive it to Gatwick Airport, and then sell it. Seriously though, that was the most money I spent the entire weekend other than the plane tickets. Rubbish.

The airport itself wasn't too bad. I made it through the security checkpoint with virtually no stress and minimal discomfort. I did drop my empty Glastonbury Spring water bottle and it bounced over into the nether-world of the security check people. The lady seemed nice so I ventured with:
"I'm terribly sorry, but I've dropped my water bottle and it went over there." With a very pleasant tone, she replied
"Oh it's alright love, I'll get it." Something in my face must have told her that this solution wasn't optimal.
"Or did you want to keep it?" She added.
"Yes, if that's alright. It's from Glastonbury." I chimed.
"Oooo Glastonbury." She said with less excitement then you'd imagine.
I thanked her and was off to my next destination: The Passenger Lounge.

This is the fancy name that was given to the area in-between check-in and the terminals. I'm not the most frequent flyer, but I don't think I've ever heard it called by such a name. It made me feel more relaxed and at ease- really! I had 2 and a half hours to lounge so I took my time looking around at the duty free shops and perused my dinner options. The winner was a little pub and grill called the Black Horse or something equally pub-like. I went in and took a seat and looked through the menu to search for some meal that would be decidedly English in nature. I found a cheeseburger.
But this story is exciting! Because I sat there for a good 15 minutes waiting for someone to come to take my order. If I had read the entire menu carefully, I would have seen the final page much sooner. The page that has, in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian; "Instructions for ordering". If I had seen this page, I would have known to order the food at the bar and give them them my table number. Silly American. Anyways, it was a pretty good burger. I noticed that yellow mustard is called "English Mustard" and that Heinz ketchup still doesn't taste quite right here. I'm sure it is different in some way.
So after my dinner, I lounged about waiting for my boarding information to appear on the screen. I found it odd that they don't tell you which gate to report to until about 40 minutes before the flight is supposed to leave. At one point, I fancied a McFlurry with pieces of Yorkie in it. Alas, a higher power reminds me that McDonald's is never to be used as a means for nourishment- the ice cream machine was completely broke so I came away empty handed.

The flight itself was no more exciting than tying a shoe. I was very pleased at how quickly I was able to get into Germany though. Once off the plane, I just had a 5 minute jaunt through the arrivals labyrinth and then presented my passport to a German guy in a uniform with a beard. He stamped it and I was done. I don't recall international travel ever being so easy. I made it to the part where you walk out and see a ton of people waiting for friends to come off the planes and was delighted to spot my friend Tina was already there waiting for me.
I met Tina some 5 years ago when she came to the US as a foreign exchange student. We had been in touch and she convinced me that I should visit her while we are both in Europe and that we should hang out in Berlin.
Anyways, it was not too cold out in Berlin as we walked to the S-Bahn. For mass transit in Berlin, they have trams and two trains- the "Stadtschnellbahn" (fast city train) and the "Untergrundbahn" (under ground train). Thankfully these are abbreviated S-Bahn and U-Bahn respectively.
So a few minutes later, we were walking down a dark street to her friend's apartment. Her friend, Freida (I hope I am spelling this correctly!) was waiting for us to arrive. Her apartment was a nice little place with all the necissary stuff. She went through the effort of turning the chair and ottoman into a makeshift bed for me to sleep on. It might have even been better than my mattress in London, or perhaps I was just thankful for any surface on which I could sleep. We talked very briefly, Freida offered me tea, I had some water, and we were all off to bed.

Friday morning was just great. Breakfast consisted of fresh bread rolls from Freida's parents' bakery (mmmm) complete with fruit jams, butter, honey, salami, ham, and most importantly, Nutella. This combined with some decent bancha from Freida's tea collection was a brilliant start to the day. Afterwards, Tina and I were off to the center of town to catch a hop-on, hop-off bilingual bus tour of Berlin. The tour was pretty good although the tour guide on the first bus we were on had such a strong accent, I could barely tell when he switched from speaking in German to English. We saw all the major sights including the Brandenburg Gate (the video I took here is mysteriously not working at all) and parts of the Berlin wall that still remain. After we completed the circuit of the city, Tina took me to try currywurst. This magical treat was a sausage that was covered with ketchup, and curry sauce. I have before and after pictures that prove I ate the whole thing. While it wasn't my favorite dish, I can say I tried one of Berlin's specialties. After this, Freida met up with us when she was done with school and we walked around the city a little more. We checked out another part of the Berlin wall and had Ben and Jerry's. Later that night, we met up with Tina's other friend, Dörthe. The four of us went out to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and I will have some video and photos to go with this part of the story. My meal was pretty good and I had some green tea with ginger. Afterwards, we went to some bar/lounge to get cocktails. Everyone was surprised and confused when I asked for Ginger Ale with cranberry juice. They didn't believe me that it was a real thing. It tasted fine and they all tried it and confirmed. But it was nice to hang out and make new friends. That night, Tina and Freida played some German music for me and looked stuff up on Wikipedia while I rested on my chair-bed. I must have been tired because I fell asleep while they were talking to me about who the popular German musicians are.

Saturday. This morning, we were to meet my friend Leonie in Berlin. We missed out train stop but were only 7 minutes late or something. The four of us met up and walked around some of the trendy Berlin streets. We went to the Ka De We and walked around for a while in there. I checked out the tea section and candy section specifically. Leonie bought 6 cans of American Mountain Dew (the German kind is made slightly differently). We then found lunch at an Italian place right off the main drag. I got a 4-cheese pizza and a tasty drink called Apfelschorle which is apple juice and sparkling mineral water. We were then off the "The Story of Berlin" a so-called adventure museum. It was pretty exciting I guess. Lots of German history from the very beginnings of Berlin to the present day. I don't really know why it was an adventure, but it definitely felt like a museum. The most exciting part was that they have a fall-out shelter that you can go in and look around while they talk about how the living conditions would have been for the two weeks people could have lived there. Actually, afterwards I read that you can rent the whole place for parties and gatherings. Weird.
So after the Adventure Museum, we met up with Dörthe again and we somehow ended up getting ice cream again, this time from Häagen Dazs. Afterwards we went to visit the Reichstag building. We had to wait in line for a good 30 minutes or so to get in, and Leo had to catch her train back home- but once we got in, it was neat to see the city from up inside the dome. The video will have more of this...
Saturday night, Tina and co. took me to get a chicken döner from their favorite döner place. It was pretty good, even though mine was rather plain with no sauce or tomatoes but if you know me at all, that shouldn't be a big surprise... That night we went back to Freida's, had tea, and then Tina moved to Dörthe's apartment for the remainder of my visit.

Sunday was a fun, albeit, cold day. The sun was shining when I woke up after a dream involving swimming in the ocean after ducks that mysteriously turned into fish that turned into flying lizards. It looked like it would be a nice day. Dörthe had arranged for me and Tina to take her bicycles for the day. She lives in a town outside Berlin called Potsdam. So all day, Tina and I just rode around on the bikes exploring parks that had old castles, towers, creepy old buildings, windmills, etc. Once we were outside, the sun went away for the remainder of the day and it was quite cold. We walked around a nice pedestrian street in town and got some banana chips and chewy ginger candies. There were some old churches too. Eventually, we made our way to a large park with lakes and towers and lots of folks out walking (with/without dogs) which you will surely see in the video. By the time we circled around and headed back to Dörthe's, it was getting dark. Having a distinct lack of groceries, we ended up having pizza and pasta delivered for dinner, but it all worked out quite well. We were up chatting about Germany, America, travel, the world, languages, you name it. We were all asleep by midnight and Tina and I had our plan for the madness that would be...

Monday Morning. Berlin- 4:15 AM.
I woke up when Tina's alarm went off but went back to sleep because I knew I wouldn't need all this time to get ready. I think I got up at 4:20 or 4:25, I'm not sure. Once I showered, I put all of my things back in my book-bag, and was ready to go. We planned to leave for the bus stop by 4:55. Success. We waited for several minutes and the bus did show up. The bus trip to the train station wasn't too bad, I'm glad we knew where to get off. Ten points to Tina for successfully planning and executing a lot of the travel and itinerary during my time in Berlin. It all went very smoothly. I was worried that I would be late to the plane because the best case scenario only provided 20 minutes to get from the train stop at the airport to the plane terminal. The other option for Sunday morning was to wake up two and a half hours earlier and wait around at the train station a bit- but would have afforded more time at the airport itself. Dörthe said we would be able to make it, and she was right! So 10 points for Dörthe as well. Anyways, I said goodbye to Tina and went through security and rushed off to my gate. Again, I had a seat in the 3rd row of the jet. You see, with EasyJet, the seats are not designated on the tickets, it is first-come first-serve but people will still sit with gaps in-between them, just like on buses or the tube. If you sit near the front of the plane, you get off quicker though and can beat the rush at border patrol. Anyways, I found a seat between two nice people and almost immediately fell asleep for the whole of the trip. Now for the exciting conclusion!

So Monday at 10:30, I teach at one of my primary schools in London. My goal was to get there on time even though I was coming from, oh you know, Berlin. Anyways, keep that in mind. So the plane landed a little after 8AM London time (Berlin was an hour ahead) and I bustled off quickly through the passport control and found myself in the train station. Now the train LED boards are harder to read than the ones for the underground- there is a lot more information on them. So I thought I had to head to platform 1 for my express train back to central London so I headed there. However, when I got there, I found that the train that was there was calling at lots of stations in between. I didn't pay another £16.90 for non-express! The other platform indicated that the next express train wouldn't arrive for 20 minutes. This had me down and worried. Luck would have it, exactly at that moment I over heard the end of a conversation that went like this "...platform 6. If you hurry. Run, go!"
I thought "Oh silly people running around in train stations like they have somewhere important to be". And then I thought that while I had to wait 20 minutes for this train anyways, I might as well go check out Platform 6 and see what they were talking about. Sure enough, when I rounded the corner to platform 6, the Victoria Express train was about the depart. The whistle was blown and the doors were closing. I barreled full speed down the stairs like a reckless Burnese mountain dog and hurled my body towards the crack that meant the difference of a good 30+ minutes to my journey... I just barely made it in and my book bag was pinched by the door. But I made it in. That was all that mattered. I felt like I won a million bucks. Everything happened to work out perfectly for those last 5 minutes. By some magical twist of fate, I ended up on the right train 20 minutes earlier than I should have- just on a whim.

The rest of the story is hardly exciting... I will tell you that the Victoria tube station was a madhouse and that because of that, I was 15 minutes late to my first school, but it ended up being alright. The Berlin trip was a success, I had a great time, caught up with old friends, made some new ones, saw some cool historic places, and tried some weird foods. I recommend Berlin if you want to check out a city that is a bit more spread out and less crowded than a London or NYC but still has a Starbucks on every corner. Don't go to Starbucks. There are tons of alternatives.

As for the mystery photo, I'll leave that go a day or two more just to give everyone a shot at it. I hope to have to pictures and video up tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

Not a meaningful post

My plan was to post a nice summary of my time in Berlin and maybe give you a taste of things to expect to see on here in the next couple of days. However, I am exhausted and am going to hit the hay. Of course, I couldn't post this without telling you that you can expect to see some of the 180 pictures or 14 video clips that I took in Berlin soon!

Hopefully I'll have something of a "Part 1" for you to check out tomorrow. For now, enjoy this game that I'm calling:
What is it?


Bonus points if you can tell me what it has to do with Berlin.

Berlin

Alright, so I'm off to Berlin tonight and I'll be returning in the wee hours Monday morning with (hopefully) some great footage, experiences to share, and photos.

In the mean time, think of things that you'd like to see on my blog - places you'd like me to check out in London, etc. I quite like the idea of providing movies for people to experience London vicariously. All feedback is appreciated!

Have a nice weekend.

Rob Goes West Part 5

This is the final installment of the EPIC adventures of Rob in Bath, Stonehenge, etc. Please feel free to give me feedback or thoughts for future feature videos.



This episode brought to by Baa, Baa, & Black - Attorneys At Law.

Coming Soon!

TONIGHT! Rob Goes West Part 5 (The final episode)

THIS WEEKEND! Berlin and Beyond! (Well, probably just Berlin, but that sounded like a good title).

In the meantime, one of my favorite Sesame Street clips to share with you (By the way, I love vintage Sesame Street):

Hell Pizza

I know the title may be a bit misleading, but it's true - That's the name of the place! Tonight I went with some friends to this restaurant. Apparently, it is a New Zealand chain, but it is very good. On Tuesday nights, you pay £6 up front for a plate and then from 6-9 PM, a server walks around with three tiers of pizzas and it is all you can eat. I really enjoyed everything I had. Especially the dessert pizza- which I ate so quickly, I didn't even take a picture of! The other pizzas that are pictured here are (from top to bottom): Meatlovers, Sausage and Bacon BBQ, Sauté Chicken, and my personal favorite, Chicken cranberry camembert.

Rob Goes West Part 4

All puns and jokes about Bath aside, this was the highlight of the trip for me. A real nice town and a lot of fun just wandering the streets and parks. This video includes:
* A brief tour of the Roman Baths
* Me drinking (warm, nickel-flavored) water from the spring
* A PG-13 street performance that anyone who has ever been to Bath has probably seen...

And to explain the bit about the red noses...

Rob Goes West Part 3

The clock in the cathedral at the start of the video is one of the oldest clocks in europe. You can read more about it here.

Snow Reason to Fret

Just a non West country adventure update: Both of the schools I teach at today are closed due to the weather...


I guess this much snow is cause for some delays in London...


So yeah. What to do with all of this unexpected free time? Well, I suspect I will find myself reading about tea, drinking some tea as a result, trying to get the remainder of these videos from last weekend uploaded, practicing at the London center, with some time set aside for a spontaneous adventure.

Stay warm people!

Rob Goes West Part 2

***With 100% more role-playing pilgrim Matilda.
***Now with extra runningupahilltoanancienttowertotakephotosin50minutesorless.


Here are a few pictures from this part of the journey:



As always, you can check out more of my London photos Here

The best part of this little run was that I still had a good 25 minutes to get food/drink and browse in a music shop before we had to be back at the buses. And I guess technically, the Tor is the hill itself, not the tower. Sorry if anyone was misled by the video.

Rob Goes West Part 1

A site similar to Stonehenge, except that there aren't dozens and dozens of tourists everywhere. AND you can touch/climb on the rocks. You could take one with you if you were super strong. Check out the official site or just google image it. There is a small village right in the middle of the circle. Cool stuff.

Weekend Update

Okay, so I have been back in London for a good hour or so now and I have a whole laundry list of things to accomplish tonight (including laundry!). I finally posted the video from last weekend- sorry for the tremendous delay. I had a lot of clips to sift through and honestly, the result isn't really the best, it's something.

Before I forget...



Kudos to my Dad and my cousin Sonya for getting the correct answer! Sonya answered first- but on my Facebook page and since my dad answered on the blog page (I think I said "the first person to answer on this blog" or something) he technically wins. Nevertheless, I am really impressed that they got the answer. Awesome.


So by the end of tonight, hopefully I'll have some pictures and videos posted. I am looking to make several shorter, more specific videos rather than one or two long ones that encompass the whole trip.

Bill's Walks #2 and 3

Contest: Ooooo some juicy bits

Alright, so since I am not home to edit and post my walk 2/3 video yet, I thought it'd be fun to offer a bit of a challenge for anyone who reads this (Why are you still reading this?!)

A prize for the first person to comment on the blog with the correct answer to:
What are juicy bits?

It's not what you think, really. Although creative answers might get points too. I'll post the answer after a few days if no one shows interest.

Harry Potter?

So alright, I was really going to put up the video from Bill's 2nd and 3rd walks tonight- REALLY! Except that it is taking much longer just to get the videos into iMovie than I realized and I also have to be at tomorrow's school S tomorrow morning at quarter to 9. Which means I have to be out the door by 8. At the latest. But it's alright, I like waking up early and doing things. Let's face it, if I didn't have anything until 1:45 (my first class) then I'd be waking up much later - and not getting anything done with my life.

So yeah- tomorrow night I'll post the video. Promise.


But as for now, I shall tell you that a young child at one of the schools said
"You know, you look an awful lot like Harry Potter!"
to which I replied:
"Yes, except I can't do magic unless you practice your violin..."

I also had my second lesson with Janet today and it was good. I'm playing the Manual de Falla Homage by Bela Kovacs, the Lutaslawski Dance Preludes, the Horovitz Sonatina, and for next week, apparently I am going to start learning the Stanford Intermezzi. So she is giving me a lot of stuff to do, that's a good sign, right? I enjoy playing though. I wish I had more time to practice now that the school thing is gearing up more though... I am usually out of here a little after 8 and don't bet back until after 8 at night. Oh well. I'm honestly not complaining. So far, my London experience is just great.

This weekend, going to Stonehenge amongst other things. I will have lots of videos and photos to share surely.

For now, check out this great tea blog I stumbled across ... Someday, I hope to try as many great teas as this guy has. Brilliant!

A day in the life

I thought it would be neat to take a quick audio snapshot of my day at various points. Let me know how this is from a listeners perspective... I think maybe it would work better if there were shorter clips that happened more frequently. Let me know what you honestly think.

Mmmm carrotgingerorange juice

It's true. I ordered some today from this cafe and it was really tasty. £2 though so I don't know that I'll be getting another one soon...

So today was my first day doing the teaching thing. It was a lot of fun. Today I taught at schools A and C (just to keep them anonymous). Although they are a few miles from each other, I was lucky to be able to catch a ride with one of the other music teachers who was also going from A to C. At the first school, we had a group of about 20 or so. First we learned a new song and sang it (Calypso!) and then each of the teachers took half the group to work on getting notes to come out. I stayed to help with brass and percussion. Now these kids are in the equivalent of 4th grade and have already done a class on djembes and recorders and now have band instruments. I liked that the teachers used solfege and that the children were pretty comfortable with it. Also, they are not shy to sing when asked. The full band rehearsal was okay. I helped the percussion keep a steady beat and use good stick techniques. All of this is a big change from working with a HS wind ensemble last semester trying to convey the subtleties of Robert Russell Bennett and make some very fine music. But I welcome the change! The experience here is going to be just as valuable if not more I think.

At the second school, we followed a similar scheme with band, except there were about 50 kids (!!!) so we made a bit more of a racket but they are good kids. I also sat in on some flute lessons.

Favorite quote of the day-
Teacher: "I don't know why your memory is off today!"
9-year-old-student: "I know... It's like a sieve."

Tomorrow, I need to be at school at 9:30. School L is much further away too... I need to leave early and take two tubes and a bus plus walking to get there. Fun fun!

In other news, I don't have the video from this past weekend's walks done yet. I was hoping to get to it soon, but I need to make sure I get to bed early enough so I'm not a zombie in the morning. When it is done, I'll post it. I dislike these boring posts almost as much as you do I'm sure!

Markets, tube delays, and the best tea I've had in a long time

I apologize in advance if this post is a bit short or incoherent. I'm a bit tired for no good reason but I am going to try and go to bed early (9:00ish) and take advantage of the extra sleep.


Today we went the London's east end and went to various markets and streets with lots of vendors. It wasn't too crazy today because the weather was a bit drizzly most of the time. The most exciting part of the walk was that I found a tea shop that sells really high quality teas and has a little "tea bar" where you can order teas in house and sit and drink them. The person who made my tea was very knowledgeable and made the tea correctly and everything... I am going to go there once a week to try new teas, it is my resolution. It is on the other side of the city, but what else is my tube pass good for? Anyways, I'll hopefully have pictures or video from this place in the future.

Tomorrow I start my teaching internship so I'm excited. I've posted some new pictures in my London album but don't have the patience to give them proper captions yet.
Photo Album



Good night!

Rugby or not rugby, that is the question

So here is my lame attempt at taking footage of a rugby match and making it exiciting. Granted, I only had 2 minutes or so of time left on my recorder by this point so I'm working with only a few shots but still... You get the gist of it I think. If you are really interested, try looking on YouTube for other Rugby videos- I bet there are much better ones!

The thing about rugby is that it is kind of like soccer and American football combined. You can't do forward passing, the ball has to actually touch the ground to score, and you don't get to wear padding. The only other thing I can remember is that when they start playing and all the players mash together, that is called the scrum. Yup.



Check out Blackheath's site here.
The official site of the Rugby Football Union

Blackheath won the game and were ranked much lower than the visiting team so it was kind of neat. Although it was a pretty one-sided game, the blue and white team was crushed.


Tomorrow I will be going on another walk with Bill and co. and will hopefully upload photos from today's adventures and tomorrows. I'll have a video of walks 2 and 3 in the next couple days granted my teaching internship doesn't consume all my free time!

£££££ Part 2

It's a bit long, but very insightful. I admit I am a bit biased.



Tomorrow is another walking tour with Bill and Rugby!

£££££

Part 2 will be done later today

Where Keys are Key Shaped

It's true.  Most keys here resemble key shapes.

Example:

So I should have a series of great videos and such to share with you in the near future. Here is a taste of what's to come:

• Money in London
• England, Great Britain, United Kingdom, what's the diff?
• Tours in the city of London including St. Paul's, a museum, and some markets etc.
• Rugby match on Saturday.

That's right.  Saturday afternoon after Bill's Walk #2, I'll be going to a Rugby match.  I have no idea what to expect.  I might do some research so I can understand and appreciate it better.  I don't have many sports interest at all really so I am honestly hoping that this is a breakthrough and appeals to me somehow.  It could be the start of a crazy rugby career for me... Or it might just be a fun time.

Things to keep me out of trouble...

Alright- so with a little more than a week under my belt here, my routine schedule is starting to flesh out a bit more.  I personally prefer to have things this way - too much time without structured events tends to lead to wasted time, for me at least.  

I met with some of the people with the music service that I am doing my internship with today.  I don't know if I mention this, but here, music isn't really taught at each school like it is in the states.  It is more like an outside group coming in to do the music classes. For instance, the company I work for provides music teachers and instruments etc. for a wide area of the city.  I don't know much more yet, but I'm sure I'll learn more about the similarities and differences as time goes on.

Anyways, it looks like I'll be going around to 6 different schools each week to assist/observe the music classes.  They are all primary schools so I will be working mostly with younger children, which I will surely enjoy.  Since this area is a bit south of where I am living, travel time to and from the schools will be a factor to consider.  But I think having a routine of being up nice and early to go to these schools will be good and help keep me from being a sloth.

Yesterday when I went for my lesson, Janet asked to see what music I brought with me.  Mr. Galván had recommend British repertoire while I am here.  I showed her the Horovitz Sonatina and mentioned that it was the piece that I would most like to play at some point this semester.  "Horovitz..." she said.  "I had lunch with him this afternoon."  I forgot that he is a professor at the RCM (Royal College of Music)

I'm sorry this was a bit random.  I feel as if I don't have any exciting travel-type things to tell you about but instead have given you the boring personal details that aren't much fun to read.  Okay, here are some tidbits:

* Garlic and onion powder here are called Garlic and Onion Granules instead.

* The slang for pounds is quid.  Hence  "Ay! You got 5 quid?" = "Yo!  You got 6.85 bucks?" (with today's exchange rate at least)

* Most of the front doors here have middle doorknobs instead of side ones, if that makes any sense.

Tomorrow will be my British Pop class which I've heard good things about, and Saturday and Sunday will be two more walks with Bill.  I hope to have lots of good stuff to share!

Firsts

Okay, so I survived my first class and clarinet lesson here in London.  

The class is "Empire and Decolonization"  which seems interesting enough.  I don't feel that I got a lot of history in high school, especially European history.  Perhaps zero.  Anyways, once this is underway, I think I shall enjoy it.  I already have a book from the library to read that our professor wrote.  Note:  Classes here are 2.75 hours in length and meet only once a week.  That will be the biggest adjustment I think.

My clarinet lesson was fine.  The teacher, Janet, had me play some scales and basic stuff just to get a feel for my sound and what not and then we dove right into music.  I feel a bit bleh since I haven't been taking proper lessons since early October, but hopefully these lessons will help me  find some focus and make some real progress.  I think we'll get along just fine.

I took a picture of a High Kensington St. underground platform just to share.

Today's Weather

Today's weather report.


In American numbers, the temperature has been around 40 - 50 degrees Fahrenheit lately. It generally hasn't been too sunny, so when the wind blows, it can be a bit chill.

However, compared to stories of what is going on back in Erie, Ithaca, and elsewhere, it is spring here.

I also wanted to share my new favorite video with you. It's been around a while, but it is still great.

Kudos to the first person to find something they DON'T have at Argos

Imagine a place... Where you can buy things without even shopping. No items out on display- everything is "in the back".  A place where customers just find what they want in a catalogue, type a number into a small computer, and then pick up items from the employees before they leave.  

Well, this place exists. And it is Argos. And if you didn't know that it was a different kind of store before walking inside, you would have been confused too.  I walked in and thought that the first room of the store was just for people to look through catalogues and find coupons or something.  But really, that is the whole store.  Tables with huge tomes of inventory that is somewhere in the warehouse to be purchased.  No shelves, no nothing.  Except huge catalogues that they give you to take home.

The really amazing thing is the vast amount of things that they have. From wedding bands to two story rabbit hutches, Argos has it covered.

I should mention, I didn't buy anything.

Bill's Walk #1

So I did my best with trying to condense a 4.5 hour tour into a <6 minute movie using iMovie. It's not great, but hopefully you can get some enjoyment out of it.

Bill is actually the director of the Ithaca College London Center. He is really a genuine guy and is always willing to sacrifice his own time to help any and all of the students here. Bill is one of the four staff members at ICLC and really is a huge part of the program here. I may be able to get some one on one interviews with the staff here to share with you, I'll keep you posted.

Enjoy.

You know - The London Eye, Big Ben, A giant skeletal cat...

Well it ended up being a four and a half hour tour after all- but it was alright. We got to see a lot of the sights that London is known for. A lot of walking, but it was good exercise.

Rob's Favorites:

* The Borough Market- I got 5 large navel oranges, a large hearty wheat bread roll, and a bag of kyobancha tea all for under £5.

* Walking along the rive- It wasn't too crowded and bustling for a Saturday afternoon. A nice place for a walk, etc.

* Getting on the wrong subway train- Yes, I made a silly mistake. However, we were able to hop off and get onto a train headed in the right direction at the next station.


So I took some video on the tour which I am planning to edit and post in a little bit. Here are some photos while you wait:
Check out the entire photo album here.

PG Tips = Not the best blend I've ever had...

I've kind of decided to try all the local favorite tea brands here and just see what they are like. It's not the the US where almost everything is Lipton or Tetley or Salada. Here, I keep finding new names on boxes and many of them claim to be Britain's best or favourite (favorite) tea. So far I've only had two: Yorkshire Tea and PG Tips. Yorkshire is a strong and tart tea a lot like Barry's Gold blend (an Irish tea I came upon a few years back) but perhaps not as quick of a brew. I really couldn't complain as it had that kick in the first and last sip that I enjoy in these breakfast-style teas. The PG Tips are apparently made from higher quality leaves (just the bud and two top leaves of each branch or whatever) but I don't think that really makes a difference when you grind up the leaves to the fine tea specks that are in the bags. The result is just a little plain and didn't have a rich kind of taste. It was just a little off. I don't claim to have any ability to describe teas so why even bother. Maybe I'll have more to say on this in the future.


As for today, Bill (the director of the Ithaca Center here) is taking us on a walking tour of part of the city. I will hopefully have pictures, comments, and maybe video to post when I get back. I'm not sure how long it will be, but I think it'll be a good three hours at least.


A three hour tour, a three hour tour...