Fin

So Tuesday night I did something, I'm sure of it. I just can't remember WHAT. If/when I think of it, I'll let ya know, but all I can remember right now is working on my Jean paper. I'm sure we did something though... Dad and Mom also left for the Great Beyond (the UK, not THAT Great Beyond) on Tues night, and Uncle Tom served as chauffeur extraordinaire.

Wednesday I had my final finals; one for Barnaby in class, and a paper to hand in for Jean. Paper topic was Ladies in Shakespeare (specifically in in The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, Henry IV Part 1, and Part II). I even titled the paper The Lovely Ladies of Shakespeare. Like my alliteration? As anticipated, Weds was a full day. Hayes, John and I intended to continue straight on to Parliament, but ended up stopping by the flat first to drop things off. Headed off on the tube, and ended up at the St. Stephen's Tavern, just across the street from Parliament. Hayes went off to Westminster Abbey, and John and I stayed for a pint. John nearly abandoned me for Westminster, but, gentleman that he is, stayed with me. Either way would've been just fine, but it was nice to have the company.

The whole point of my going down to Parliament was to find a bell. I don't remember if I've already told you about this, but just in case I haven't...

When we toured Parliament some weeks ago, our tour guide told us about some mythical bells that can be found in the bars around Parliament whose sole purpose is to announce when a vote is going to be held (when Parliament is in session). So the bells trill in these pubs (or at least in St. Stephen's) when a vote's going to happen, and MPs (Members of Parliament) have 7 or 8 minutes, something like that, to get back to place their votes. So the tour guide was telling us about how, if you're in one of these pubs and the bell rings, you might well see groups of men (typically not women chilling out in pubs, just drinking away the time until the votes happen) knock back their drinks and head for the door. For some reason this story stuck with me, and I wanted to be in one of these pubs. SO, there I was, sitting with John in one of those very pubs. Taverns in this case. The whole time we were sitting there, just hanging out, talking about cars and waiting for Hayes to call to say that he was finished touring around Westminster, there were groups of well-dressed people coming in talking about constituents and responding to emails and other Parliamentary things. A few we were pretty sure were MPs, but there was no way to be sure. UNTIL THE BELL RANG!!!!!!!!! I almost jumped out of my seat with excitement. Hayes had just returned, and we were finishing up our drinks, when this annoying bell started chiming. All of the wait staff pleasantly ignored it, and one of the groups of well-dressed, middle-aged men KNOCKED BACK THEIR DRINKS AND LEFT! Are the caps emphasizing my excitement? That's what they're meant to do. I was so so so so SO excited, and felt fulfilled. Great :)

The Bell

Since Hayes was back and the bell had rung, I could leave Westminster feeling like the trip had been worthwhile. Mom texted me as we were leaving to say that she and Dad had landed and were taxiing to the gate, so we headed back to the flat to start packing (me), and hang out (boys). I got some stuff boxed up to be mailed home, and went to the post office around 3:30. Still hadn't heard from Mom by the time I got out of there around 4 (long line at the post office) and was hoping she and dad hadn't been kidnapped by aliens, but didn't really want to walk over to their hotel just to say hi and turn back around out of necessity (remember, dinner reservation was for 6). So I went back and packed some more when all of the sudden my phone rang (guess who?). Mom and Dad were outside, so I let them in and we visited for a while before I kicked them out because I had to get ready for Fancy Dinner with the Boys.

Have I explained yet about FDwtB? It was this restaurant that Hayes and I had found weeks ago after our trip to the V&A Museum that had this lobster maccaroni dish on the menu. Hayes has this long-standing dream of having Lobster mac 'n cheese apparently, so he was crazy to try this thing. We weren't dressed appropriately at the time, so we put it off til a later date. Later date was this Wednesday, and we brought John along as our pet (just kidding, John!). Place was called Bentley's Seafood, and it was faaancy. More silverwear than you could choke a horse with. When we arrived, the restaurant wasn't yet ready so we were escourted in to the bar. The attentive bartender heard me talking about whiskey sours and how I wondered if I could get one there (every time I've tried to order a whiskey sour, the barmen/maids just kinda stare at me and say they don't have them), and gave me this knowing smile and asked, "Maker's Mark?" I was so happy. Halfway through the delicious libation, we were invited to move to our table upstairs. Long story short, we ate and it was DELICIOUS. It was also EXPENSIVE. In all likelihood, I will never pay that much for a meal ever, ever again. But I'll appreciate having had the experience :)

After dinner we headed back for pub quiz. Jacob came, and some of the girls who don't usually come, did. It was ridiculously difficult, but Dad and Mom came and participated which was fun. After pub quiz, M&D headed back to their hotel and we convinced Louis (pub quizmaster) to come out with us to another bar, and we basically just hung out for some hours. Did I mention yet that it was snowing this whole time? Like, on and off all day Wednesday? So when we left the bar there was a good covering of snow. Which, obviously, led to a snowball fight on the walk back to the flats. Excellent :)

My roommates were both asleep, so I had fun trying to be quiet while I finished my packing, and then went back upstairs to watch Constantine with John and Hayes and Jack. When the movie ended, we called it quits and headed to bed... Thursday was an early morning for all of us. J&H left the flat at 8 for their flights home so I got to say goodbye. Erin got a text at 5am saying that Gatwick airport was closed completely on account of snow, so her flight to Switzerland was cancelled. Rather than reschedule and risk the same thing happening in a week when she's trying to get home, she rescheduled her flight back stateside and planned to skip her trip to Switzerland. Bummer :( She wasn't feeling well (I shared my cold with her, but she got it worse... sorry Erin!)

Last photo of the semester; the park at the end of my street, Russell Square

I got the last of my things together and met M&D at St. Pancras for our train to Paris. We were delayed 2 hours because of the snow, but were lucky in that our train wasn't cancelled outright like a lot of others were. Made it safely in to Paris, but the delay caused us to miss our connection to Strasbourg. Had a bit of fun trying to communicate our difficulty to various train employees, and then found out that the next train to Strasbourg was full; only were going to get there if we did standing room for over 2 hours. We did standing room and still managed to find seats, so it was a nice ride into Strasbourg. Arrived a bit after dark, and made it to our hotel without incident. Got settled in and got directions to a nearby restaurant to grab some grub before hitting the hay. Place was an Indian/French/Italian restaurant, so we split a bottle of local wine and got some pizza for dinner. Called Le Pichet d'Or. Really good. Light meal, but just enough.

I had a lovely couch bed in the hotel which wouldn't have been a problem, really, if it weren't for the fact that the hotel had neglected to remove the plastic wrappings around the mattress before they put it in place and covered it with sheets. I felt like a bed-wetter, sleeping on plastic sheets. Crinkly ones that rustled with every movement.

When we finally rolled out Friday morning around 11:15, we headed straight to town. We wanted to see this astrological clock at the Cathedral de Notre Dame in Strasbourg that has these mechanical people that come out and do stuff at 12:30 when the bell tolls. Or so we thought. Apparently we had to be there at 11:45 (we were, but not in the right spot), not 10 minutes before. So we missed it. Oh well!

Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Gargoyle on the Cathedral

First we thought this might be the astronomical clock...

... but then we went inside and found the real one!

Wandered around the Christmas markets (Note about Strasbourg: it is the "capitale de noel" so Christmas is HUGE there. Big tourist season. There are Christmas lights everywhere, and these little markets that sell all kinds of stuff, from food to candles to wooden carvings to pottery, but almost entirely Christmas themed) that can be found in just about every square in the older parts of the city. We grabbed some hot chocolate (more like melted chocolate than the watery, chocolate flavored crap we're used to in the states), wandered down to "Petite France" and checked out the timbered houses, and basically just tried to keep from freezing to death. Finally had to call it quits to thaw out, so we stopped into a restaurant that was labelled, "L'Oiseau de France" on the outside, but had menus labelled "Kitsch 'n Bar" (so punny!)inside. We grabbed some soup (Mom and I did at least, Dad got chicken kebabs) and beers, and I basically hovered as closely to the radiator that was next to our table as was physically possible. The man and woman working at the place were laughing at me; only slightly embarrassing. Really, I just wanted to warm up.

Dad and Mom outside the Cathedral (I was supposed to be getting the street sign in this picture, but apparently missed the memo and got the Christmas sign in instead. Oops)

Petite France

They just had chandeliers hanging in the streets

While we were wandering around Petite France we had seen a river boat tour go by, so we left the Kitsch 'n Bar to find the docks. Mom, having done her research, knew all about this tour company, Batorama (punny again!), and the boats were heatedddddddddd. So warmmmmmmmm. Tour lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, and was guided by audio via headphones, so you could listen to it in any of about 12 different languages. Very convenient.

After the boat tour, we headed towards the hotel via a sandwich shop we had grabbed food at earlier. On the walk back, we finally gave in the the intoxicating smell that had been following us around all day; the "vin chaud", hot wine, that was being served by practically every other vendor in each market. It. Was. Delicious. Spiced with whole cloves and orange, it was great for an end of day treat. As we walked, we also encountered a children's choir singing in one of the squares, so we stayed to listen to some caroling before succuming to the cold and calling it quits. Ate our sandwiches back at the hotel and I got to recconoiter my bag situation. Basically tried to shift out the clothes that I'll be wearing, and put some in Mom's bag and Dad's bag and my backpack, rather than leaving them all in the honking big suitcase that weighs about a ton. Idea being that I can just leave the Whale in the car once we get to Italy (we're renting a car when we get to Italy) and live out of smaller bags. Shower and then bed.

This morning we were up early (I think today's Saturday. I'm going to try to post this as soon as I have internet access, but I'm writing on the train to Zurich, so no such luck) to be at the train station in plenty of time to catch our train. Today's going to be another big travel day; train to Zurich, 2 hour break, train to Milan. Once in Milan, find bus to take us to the airport to pick up the car. From there, drive to Baveno (about an hour and a half), and settle in. Again, it's going to be a long day. As Dad put it last night, "make sure to put on your good disposition in the morning, don't pack it." Must bid farewell, there's some beautiful, snowy scenery that's just calling for me to gaze at it...