winter wonderland, part II

Yes we went back to Winter Wonderland. Yes we saw a singing Moose. Yes we drank mulled wine and ate roasted chestnuts (and candied cashews and soft pretzels...) . Yes we bought Christmas ornaments and watched ice skating. Yes I have found some amazing friends. Yes it was amazing.

webcam kitty

I'm glad I get so much quality Skype time with Leopold. (Only kidding - he hates Skype. I see him when he happens to be next to the fam when we're all talking.)

thanksgiving in london

I woke up and went to work. I shared my mom's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with my co-workers, who responded with "Wow! These are all the way from America! Thanksgiving is great." I got off work and came home at 6 pm.

And I walked into a kitchen overflowing with the smells of Thanksgiving foods. My group of friends had decided we were having Thanksgiving, in our communal kitchen, in a country where they don't celebrate the holiday. It was great. Instead of turkey we had rotisserie chickens. There wasn't any cranberry. But there were yams and marshmallows, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, asparagus and wine. Lots of wine. It was the best meal I had eaten in London, and I shared it with my closest friends.

After our Thanksgiving meal, we took the bus to Hyde Park where Winter Wonderland has set up camp. Apparently it's not Christmas-time in London unless Winter Wonderland has come to Hyde Park. We strapped on ice skates and made it on the ice, built around a park gazebo with fairy lights above. It was kind of magical. (I refused to skate unless I was holding someone's hand. My friends were quite amused and put up with me, laughing at the California girl who had never been ice skating.)

After forty minutes I stumbled off the rink, and wandered around the wonderland. I'm going to have to go back, I didn't have much time to enjoy the attractions as it closed at 10, but I did get to see most of it. The Christmas carneval is complete with roller coasters, an iconic ferris wheel, a Christmas market, and so many stands selling bratwurst and mince pies and gingerbread and mulled wine. I could spend an entire evening there.

gratitude

What I am thankful this (non-) Thanksgiving in London:

Skype
scarves & thick socks
my mom's care packages
my mom's e-mails
my pink fuzzy blanket
Cameron
all of London's outdoor markets
my boots
sidereel.com (how else would I watch my American t.v. shows?!)
trees with leaves that change colour
the free coffee i get at work
digestive milk chocolate cookies
the free national museums all over the city
everybody on my floor for exploring the city with me
the cheap thai food on Brick Lane
housekeeping for vacuuming my room once a week
the friendly guy at the 24-hour store down the street who recognizes me (too much late-night candy...)
the £1 basket of bananas at Portobello Rd market
Christmas and New Years in Spain
my plane ticket home

the white cliffs of dover

This past weekend I dragged anyone I could find out to the country for a weekend trip to the White Cliffs of Dover. It ended up being just me and my roommate Lauryn. We quickly realized that you do not go to the town of Dover to visit Dover. You stop there for gas, maybe a bite to eat, and then move on to see the cliffs and medieval castle.

Nevertheless, we spent our first day wandering the street (yes, singular) of the town, and exploring the beach and Prince of Wales pier in the bay. It was quiet and kind of eery but we made the best of it. The town is run down and falling apart, not in a quaint way, but luckily we found a decent place to eat dinner and then headed back to the hotel (that looked nothing like the pictures online) for an early night in. Honestly after work and homework and class (oh and the nights out in London) a little down time was needed.

And this is a night out in Dover: cheap pub food at the only restaurant open past 6 pm on a Saturday night, and a walk along the beach ... going crazy at the lack of life in Dover ...

Day 2 began with with a quaint breakfast of toast and eggs at The Chaplin (yep, that's right, themed with Charlie Chaplin paraphernalia) and then a drive to the cliffs. We left the car at the visitor's center and started on the two mile hike out to the lighthouse (closed in the winter). It was one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen in my life. In the first five minutes of walking on top of the cliffs (with no railing between me and the edge) the trip was worth it.

And after our trip to the White Cliffs, we stopped at Dover Castle, built in the 1100s and continually manned until 1958! It was used during WWII for secret underground tunnels in the cliffs, as Dover is only 30 miles across the Channel from France.

The castle reminded me of something out of Camelot. Built of stone, it smelled very earthy inside. How very isolating it must have been to live there.