Goodbye to London, Hello Salzburg!

Dear Friends--

Let me first apologize for my absence from blog world, I am sorry it has been so long since I updated. I will look at it this way, it's better that I am busy experiencing everything that London and now Salzburg has to offer, rather than typing away on here. But I am sorry.

Finishing off London:
I finished off my London experience in true London style, I don't remember where I last left on in my stories, but I went and saw another show (Phantom of the Opera) and it was outstanding. I really enjoyed London, the sights where great and there was always so much to do/see.

The class I took while in London was on Terrorism and Public Policy, it gave a great look into what the U.S. is/has been doing to handle the threats of terrorism, and the likely responses. I took the final, hopefully I did well, but I think I spent more time exploring London than actually studying. I don't think I would trade any of my experiences to put my nose in a book longer in London. SO here's to hoping I passed!!

On To Salzburg:
I left for Salzburg on that Saturday (July 5th), it was a LOOOOOOONG day of travel. I also was hammered with luggage overages, (I was not alone, rumor has it one student had to pay $500 extra to get their bags here!). That being said, if there was ever a time that you would want some sox, plain white T's, or anything else that I hold no sentimental value for, come to Salzburg, I am having a fire sale. My goal is to not pay any overages on the way back, we will see....

Salzburg is a beautiful city, its nestled right into the Alps, and is defiantly a tourist town....For those of you who don't know where Mozart was born it was in Salzburg, and BOY they don't let you forget it. Mozart is on everything here. There is also another tourist trap, the Sound of Music was filmed here, sooooo that means Americans and other Europeans flock to Salzburg to see the sights. I have yet to see the movie, but I am going on the tour on Wed. I need to find sometime to sit down and really enjoy the Sound of Music.

It is clear that Salzburg and Austria as a whole once was a great power. Unfortunately, Napoleon, WWI, and WWII have taken a big bite of their power. The palaces and fortresses remain though and make for interesting visits.


Here are some more links to pictures:

Wimbledon:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113369&l=da0fa&id=38203046

Last part of London:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113364&l=d6f1a&id=38203046

Salzburg:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2114901&l=a534a&id=38203046

Vienna:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2114903&l=3cb04&id=38203046

"If you grow tired of London, you have grown tired of Life"

I read that quote somewhere and I am starting to believe it. I have had a very busy few days, sit back and let me tell you about them...

This past weekend there was an event in London called Westend Live, this took place at Leicester Square. Basically all the musicals in London put on 20mins of what they got to offer free for the public. It was a blast, as well as a great opportunity to determine just exactly shows that I might want to see...After Westend Live, I have narrowed my list to Wicked, Phatom, Spamalot, Avenue Q, Lion King, Les Mis, and some others but the list is just to long. (The Photo is an action shot of Kelly at Westend Live.)

So after an afternoon spent watching 20mins of plays, we decided to attend one that night. Wicked was the play of choice. It was outstanding, I am not theater buff, but this was entertaining and the music was very good. Two big thumbs up from me. If you have not seen the show I suggest you go.

This is a shot of my new McGeorge School of Law friends, in front of Wicked.

The next day: We wanted to see another show but came to find out that there are no shows, or very very limited shows on Sundays in London. We spent the day exploring Regents Park. It was nice, live music was playing and there was plenty to see. Walked through the Queen's Rose garden, it was a sight, Roses everywhere. I will be uploading pictures soon with examples of what I am talking about.

Now, on to the Really fun stuff. Monday was the start of arguably the biggest tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon. We went. They have a system where you can show up and stand in line and hope to
get lucky by either getting a grounds ticket, which would entitle you to see any of the matches not taking place in the main courts, or purchase a resale ticket, which is where people who are leaving for the day drop off their ticket so it can be resold to other for $10, these seats are luck of the draw and can be anywhere. (the proceeds goto charity, so its for a good cause.) Anywho, first day we were in line or "que" for about 3 hrs. maybe a little less. When we cleared security we were shown to the ticket booth, where they just happened to have court no. 1 tickets or sale at a reduced rice, so me and another bought them thinking hey this is awesome. Well 30secs later, Center Court tickets opened up, soooo I missed out on those but had great seats none the less. I saw the match between Layton Hewitt, and Robin Haase, it went 5 sets and was really intense. The photo is from my seat, of Layton Hewitt I think #20 in the world.

We went back again today (Tues.) it was much harder to get in, but we did finally get in, and we saw Andy Roddick, The Williams Sisters (play doubles), and the #2 woman in the world play her opening round match. I will post more pictures later. Right now its 11:30pm London time, and I have to read, oh yeah I am here for class as well....

Lost, Westminster, and Will

Been running around London for the past couple of days and have been able to do alot. I will share three stories with you.

Story One:
Went out for a long run, ran along the canals of East London, really cool, they have a bunch of locks, where boats can raise, or lower to the water level needed. Very interesting, alot of people use boats for transport. So the run continues, and I am now lost in East London/Downtown London. Next thing I know I see the tower bridge, which is not close to where I need to be. Long story short, I end up having to walk right through the Royal London Hospital to get back to the main road I need. That was an awkward moment for all involved, a sweaty 6'11" guy walking through the waiting room of the largest hospital in London. Oh well, I made it back that's all that matters.

Story #2:
I have had many different meals here over that last couple of days ranging from traditional English food to traditional Indian food. All of which has been very good. I suggest eating Indian food if you get the chance, I enjoyed it and will have it again at some point.

On to the real story. A couple of us went to Westminster Abbey for evening song, which is basically a church service, but only the singing part. The choir does the singing. It was beautiful. I don't throw that word around much but it certainly fits here. I am not sure I have ever heard anything that could compare to what I heard in the Abbey. Here is a video of one of the songs they sang. Please keep in mind, video doesn't do this justice. It was at least 10X better in person.



It was amazing.



Story #3:
We went to the British museum today and saw alot of things to many to really name, but it was interesting. The amount of artifacts in that place is staggering.

This is me and Hercules...see the resemblance?? Uncanny I know!

After the museum, the UK premier of Hancock was going on so we got to see WILL SMITH. That's right the Fresh Prince Himself. Also a guy from Arrested Development was there. So its fun...More to come...Stay tuned...







Oh ps class is ok as well.

Photos

Here is a link to the photos I have taken...Enjoy...I will be updating with stories soon, I was having computer trouble today, so I will try again later.

Photo Group #1

Photo Group #2

Finally Arriving in London

Greetings...I have arrived in London, finally, after a long day of travel, Kelly and I both made it safely to London. However, my bags did not, they were not quite ready to leave the US so they stayed an extra day.

We have had two very busy days in London. Day One: Rode the double decker original London tour bus, walked all over London, went on a Thames river cruise, saw Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abby, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, The fake Globe, just to name a few.

Day 2: We went on a tour of the Tower of London, and rode the The London Eye. Both were fun and informative. Also we saw a street market with street performers.

All in All London is great, there is so much history and the city is sooooo clean and interesting. It seems that around every corner there is something dating back to the 1800s, its been a great learning experience.

I will detail the days events with pictures in the next posts...

Welcome

Come one come all...Welcome to my adventures in traveling and culture. This will be the little corner of the web where I will keep you up to date with all the happenings from Europe. I will arrive in London, England at roughly 7:30am local time on June 12th. I am excited to start my Journey, but I am not excited about fitting my larger frame into a seat meant for a 5'10" skinny male. I will update you on how that goes. Stay tuned to see what I forgot to bring and how that will effect the rest of my trip....THE SUSPENSE IS BUILDING...