Snapshot of London...

London continued...

Ok so I'm attempting to catch up on my blogging. Here I go...

LONDON!

So let's see, London was just awesome! And so much more happened after my first post. I'll be brief though because I think I've already told all my (few) readers about it already! haha. First big event- that day I went to get my tattoo! The studio was just perfect, look up "Good Times Tattoo" and you'll see what I mean. Clean, friendly, wordly, stylish; what more could you ask for? Danny Kelly was my artist and he just did a perfect job. I actually lucked out getting an appointment, as they are quite exclusive!

After the tattoo, I rushed back to my hostel (stopping by starbucks first, of course! My reward for 2 hours under the needle!) put away my camera and stuff, and headed out for the VAMPIRE WEEKEND concert! I didn't get there as early as I would have liked (London's huge!) so I was pretty far down in the line. But I guess it was kind of nice, only having to wait in the cold for 15 minutes before the doors were opened. But to my astonishment, I ended up in the VERY front! Just off center, to boot. I guess it's not like in the US where everyone rushes to the front, everyone kind of just took their time and got drinks and meandered their ways to the stage. Not me though! haha. So anyway, Fandeath opened for them and they weren't too great, ok though. Now, I can't even describe how amazing vampire weekend was! Really, they just blew my mind. It was probably one of the best concerts I've ever been too (up there with Beirut and Sasquatch). First off, the music was amazing. Like REALLY amazing. A jillion times better than the recordings. And Ezra! SWWWOOOOON! Oh goodness, I think I'm in love. It's funny because before the show, I always thought he was a total ass. I don't know why, I guess just cuz he is always front and center in everything and just seemed rather pompous or something. My opinion of him has completely changed though. He is truely the single most best performer I have ever seen. Just they way he presented himself and talked; he just seemed so genuine and ahhhh, I'm melting just thinking about it. I'll definitely be seeing more of them! :)

So anyways, the day after the show was my last full day so I just wandered around without a real plan. I sure got around though! A friend of mine from home (Oregon) had suggested I go to Hyde Park for a stroll so I took his advice and started my day there. Even though it was sprinkling I had a very nice and beautiful walk. I actually only expected to spend about 20 minutes in the park but was there for at least 2 hours. After that I walked by Buckingham palace, through one of the real shi shi parts of town and then to Berkeley Square (In honor of Mark and Corbin (A nightingale sang...) , of course!) where I enjoyed a very nice starbucks! After that I headed uptown in search of this pub that I once saw on a Samantha Brown show. I found it and had lunch there and tried my first real, British ale. I was actually a little disappointed and prefer Belgian beer any day. It was still a great experience though! After that I just walked around some more and at that point it was raining pretty hard so I decided to find a shopping mall and just chill there and see a movie. I don't even remember where I had dinner that night. Or what I did after that but I just took it easy because I was pretty worn out.

The next day I had to leave for the airport around 1pm so I got up early and tried to squeeze in everything I hadn't seen yet. Namely Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, one last starbucks and abbey road! It was a nice finish to my trip, though I'm still not finished with London! I definitely plan on returning soon, but hopefully not alone next time!

Sorry!/Explanation

Ok, so it's been about a month since my last post. A lot has happened since then and now and so I'm going to do my best to catch you guys up. Though rather than doing it in one long and random post, I'm going to separate it in to multiple posts to give some organization to your readings. That being said, I dedicate the remainder of this post to an explanation of my new blog title picture thing....


At first glance, this may look like a fountain of a little boy peeing. Well, no need to look twice, cuz that's exactly what it is. When I first went to Brussels, just days after my arrival here in Belgium, I was fortunate enough to be able to see this Manneken Pis (I think it's "Peeing Boy" in a mix of French and Flemmish). My host mom told me that he is the symbol of Belgium and a pride to their country. Though I didn't express this at the time, my initial reaction was "You've gotta be kidding!! This is the most tacky thing I've ever seen!!" Though I have to admit, that little guy has grown on me since. Ok, let me explan.... If you look at Belgium's history, you'll notice that they've been taken over by pretty much every European power since forever (it's a little pathetic, really). Anyway, when they gained independence, they decided to build this fountain just to show the rest of Europe that they can do whatever they want and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them! And of course they chose the most crude and random thing, because hey, they can! It's hilarious, and kinda a big "F you!" to the rest of Europe. What's not to like?

Anyway, now that that's cleared up, I'll be working on filling you guys in on everything that's happened in this last month. More soon!


-claire