Who Loves You Pretty Baby?

First things first, let's just discuss how stupid the internet is here at my lovely apartment. Only three of us can really be on the internet at one time, and so when one of my roomies really wants it, you know, to watch law and order, she resets it and usually kicks me off. So this is the first chance I have had since returning from fall break to update. For once, it's not really my fault.
WARNING: this is going to be a long entry, so those who only sort of care, feel free to just look at the pictures, I won't be offended.

Day 1: Munich

Getting to Munich was a handful of firsts. My first international train ride, my first time to use my Eurail pass, my first overnight train. My advice for the next person? Get a bed reservation on the train, otherwise really rude women from Bologna will get on, wake you up, and push you out of your seat because they want to lean against the window. For reals, guys? Was that necessary?

Once I got to Munich, I discovered that my hostel was literally visible from the train station. Brilliant! Especially since I got in at 7 AM. I got about three more hours of sleep before heading out for my one day in the city.

Friends, this city is gorgeous. Most of the day I just wandered around and took pictures of whatever I happened to come across. I managed to make it to The Church of Our Lady, and treated myself to lunch at the Hofbrauhaus.

Oooo Horbrauhaus. Best meal I have had in a loooooong time. Delicious half-veal sausages, potatoes, a pretzel, and a drink. For 6 Euro. Um... really? That's fantastic. There's a picture below. TELL me that doesn't look delicious.


Day 2: Hamburg

Alright, I am in Hamburg for one reason and one reason only. The Beatles. What's the connection, you ask? Once upon a time, before they were famous, the group lived and played in Hamburg. Twice, in fact. So there's a Beatles tour AND a Beatles museum.

The area of Hamburg that The Beatles were in was and is the red light district. Which is also where my hostel was, so I was not too hot on staying out late. My tour started at 4:30 in theory, however, my tour guide didn't speak much English, so we had to wait around for a translator to come. She turned out to be a tour guide as well, so essentially I had my own personal tour around the Reeperbahn. Which was cool. We saw all the places that The Beatles play, where they lived, where they bought their first pair of "beatle boots." The museum was, I kid you not, five stories tall with a giant inflatable yellow submarine sticking out of the side. You go through the back story, and by the last floor, you're walking through representations of all of the cover art, including the inside of the yellow sub. And I got to eat fish and chips. :)


Days 3-6: London


Getting to London was a hassle. O my. My plane was at 9:30 AM, but the airport was in the next town over from Hamburg, so I was going to take the early express bus at 6 AM. Well funny story, the early express doesn't run on Sundays. Brilliant. So I'm freaking out, thinking I'm not going to make it to the airport on time if I make it at all (it would cost about 100 Euro to take a taxi). Then I realized that it's daylight savings time, so I'm actually freaking out at 5 AM instead of 6. Which is some comfort. No one working in the gas station i was stranded at spoke any English, but one of the customers did, and he walked me the two blocks to the trains station to catch a train to Lubeck. Nicest guy ever. Long story short, I got to the airport in plenty of time and got to London and Audrey's place without any more trouble.

Audrey and Nicole were super nice to me all week. They cooked for me, (well, Audrey did), and lent me their keys and bummed around with me although they had school that week. Sooo many thanks to them.

Things I saw in London:
-A brilliant 60s photo portraits expose at the National Portrait Gallery called Beatles to Bowie. It was so so so many kinds of good. There were at least 50 pictures of The Beatles which I had never seen before, and that's a task, ladies and gents.
-The special exhibit at the National Gallery called Making the Sacred Real. 16th and 17th century Spanish religious sculpture. Breathtakingly realistic, which was kinda creepy, since their favorite subject was the dead body of Jesus.

I did a lot of window shopping, and a lot of park wandering. Actually, I did a lot of wandering in general. I was so impressed with my ability to still get around without directions or a map. That just reinforces this image I have of London as home. BUT the most exciting thing I did was see theatre. O my goodness, I have missed seeing shows, and I hadn't realized how much until I was seeing one every night again.

MONDAY: Jersey Boys
I did not want to like this musical. I was so upset that it beat Drowsy Chaperon for the best musical Tony. But Dad really liked it when he saw it, and I had had a rough day, so I wanted something upbeat. Or at least upbeat-ish. And, I mean, I do love the Four Seasons, but who doesn't?
However, I really really really liked it. It's still not as good as Chaperon, but I had such a good time. I had a seat in the 4th row center (SCORE!) and the only downsides were that I saw an understudy for Frankie, who was still very good, and that I sat next to a very excitable British woman who felt the need to sing along with every song. Ugh. I did, however, discover that there is not a bad day in my life that the chorus of "Who Loves You" can't fix.
Also, side note, the guy who plays Tommy DeVito is also the guy in the 2000 movie of Jesus Christ Superstar. As Jesus. I love my life.

TUESDAY: Mother Courage and Her Children
Let's make sure everyone is on the same page here. This show was at the National Theatre. You don't see bad shows at the National. Like, if there is ever a bad show there, it's a sign of the apocalypse. Second, this show starred Fiona Shaw, who you probably should know for something other than Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies, but you don't. Go fix that. Fiona Shaw was PHENOMENAL. Mind blowing. And it was the best Brecht translation I've ever read. That Tony Kushner sure knows what he's doing. I just... I can't even begin to tell you how good this show was. The BEST thing I've ever seen. In my life. Ever. Go Youtube search the music - Duke Special Mother Courage. Watch the documentary (10 min) from skyarts.co.uk. Watch the trailer on the National's website. Go now. Try to understand, because I cannot tell you.

WEDNESDAY: Inherit the Wind
I love this play. I knew that walking in. The character I love the most was played by Kevin Spacey. The show was directed by Trevor Nunn, who I love. Do I really need to explain whether or not I liked it? I had the worst seat in the house and I did not care. Spacey was fantastic. You think he's good on screen. Compared to him on stage, he's not. Nope. He is a legend, that man. He made me cry. The set was perfection, and the opposing lawyer, played by a man I'd never heard of, was every bit as good as Spacey. Every bit.

On my last half day in town, I went to meet up with a friend who graduated from TCU about a year ago who's working in France and was vacationing in London. We grabbed lunch and chatted, but it was super refreshing. I've missed her a lot! Then I got on the train to Stansted to fly to Dublin only to realize that I was flying out of Gatwick. I magically made that flight, though, and went to see Jule!!



Days 7-9: Dublin

I met up with Jule, Audrey, and Nicole (who had flown out that morning) and grabbed some Irish fast food before heading to Jule's for some chill hanging out and catching up time. But we went to bed early (well, early for us) because we had a day planned for HALLOWEEN!!!

Most of this day revolved around going to the Bram Stoker Dracula Experience. Why would there be a Dracula museum stuck in the center of Dublin? That's where Bram Stoker was from. I know, new news for me, too. The "experience" was over a bar (sketchy clue #1), was free (sketchy clue #2), and had absolutely no one working it (sketchy clue #3). Like, someone could in theory walk into this museum, dressed like a vampire, and go on a killing spree without anyone catching him. Yes, those were the thoughts going through my head as we walked in. Also, Nicole has a phobia of was figures, which was all the museum was made of, so Jule or I would have to walk forward, set off all the sensors, etc, and tell Nicole and Audrey where not to look, etc. Which calmed us down for a while, but by the end, when people were lowering down from the ceiling, we were literally just running to the exit. BEST HALLOWEEN IDEA EVER.


That night, we went out with Jule's friends, in costume. Cara was in Dublin too, so we met up with her and went dancing. I was dressed as Tonks from the Harry Potter books (pics below) and when we got the bar, one of Jule's friends was dressed as Belatrix. Guess who had a wizard duel in the bar? I love my life. Love it.


Sunday, Audrey and Nicole had gone back to London, so Jule and I spent the day bumming around and having some quality time, which was what I really needed. That girl makes my day. We dined in Hell, a pretty kickin pizza joint that serves Chicago style deep dish pizzas with weird but delicious toppings. Mine had avacado, chicken, and BBQ sauce. Jule's tasted like apple pie filling with pine nuts and cream cheese. Then I got on the airport express and headed home. That was an adventure as well. The plane was so full that they had to check my bag. We got into Pisa late, about 12:30 AM, and the express bus is full so we have to wait for the non-express at 1. By non-express we mean that at about 2 AM, the bus driver pulled over for a 15 minute smoke break. Really? I finally get back to the apartment at 3, but have to wait until 6 AM to go to bed since one of my roommate's boyfriends was still there, sleeping on my couch.
That was fall break! Nothing really exiting this week, just getting back to school. We're spending this weekend in town mostly, though tomorrow afternoon we're taking a trip to Pisa.