Czech Puppets

There were puppets all over Prague. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have no idea why--all I can figure is that it's a traditional thing that kind of gained momentum and turned into puppets of naked mermaids, Jack Sparrow, Michael Jackson, and Charlie Chaplin.

Prague's cathedral

The cathedral was even prettier than the castle, which was nice enough of its own accord. The above photo is of the outside--part of it. It's in the middle of Prague's castle district, surrounded by tons of other buildings, so I couldn't back up far enough to fit the whole of the outside into one photo.

The inside of the cathedral, to give you a vague notion of how big it was.

Zoomed-in photo of the stained glass at the far end. Tickets were required to go about thirty or forty feet past the entrance, so I didn't bother. There was still plenty to see, particularly the stained glass. I genuinely can't think of any stained glass I've ever seen that might be prettier, or as pretty, as the enormous, twenty or thirty foot tall windows in that cathedral.

Prague's famous clock

The famous astrological clock in Prague, Czech Republic.

Not as impressive as most would think. Mostly it's just pretty and kind of complicated-looking. The best part, I'd say, is when the groups of confused tourists gather around it at ten or eleven at night waiting for it to ring--it quits ringing at 9PM, and starts back up at 9AM.

Oxford, England

Oxford, England.

Oxford was nice because I didn't really know what I was doing. I just wandered. Turns out there's a castle to tour, complete with with horrific stories from when it was turned into a jail and a tower to climb (the top of which is where the above picture was taken). I went to the biggest bookstore I've ever been in--three stories tall (four for Americans)--and that was just the store where they kept the books. There were completely separate buildings for music, for posters and art, and for--something else. Can't even remember anymore, because the book one was the building I cared most about. I had a wonderful dinner at a nice little restaurant that turned out to be a chain, and I was only there for about thirty hours. (You can do a lot in thirty hours, especially in any English town or small city.)

England's Lake District

England's Lake District (without any lakes. Just awesome mountains).

England's Lake District

This video made me laugh. I'd forgotten I made it, and found it as I was going through some more of my photos. Enjoy my silliness!

Eight hours

I was sunning myself in the backyard just now and it occurred to me--hey, it's almost four in the afternoon. That means it's midnight in Edinburgh.

Eight hours is kind of a big time difference. I'm lying in the sun, outside, in the middle of the afternoon whereas if I was in Scotland, I'd probably be thinking about going to bed soon. I certainly wouldn't be wearing a bathing suit.

San Diego really is a world away. Or, I guess at this point, Edinburgh is.

Stories, starting with Stonehenge

There's not much happening at home. I read Clockwork Angel (all 478 pages) today, and I'm working on getting my hands on American Gods. (Even though I've got a million other books to read.) I unpacked a little more, and tracked down a cell phone/mobile charger that will fit into an American wall socket. Started another book and watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith with the Brother.

Yesterday was more exciting. I went surfing with my dad, then ice skating with a bunch of friends from high school. One of them graduated early and is going to be traveling this winter and upcoming spring. I can't quite express the degree of envy that inspires, so I'm not even going to try.

To avoid boring anyone this summer with tales of how many seconds I managed to catch a wave, I'm going to tell stories--completely out of order--and slooowwly put up pictures of my own travels. Stuff I hadn't yet gotten to before disappearing back into the wilderness.

Not that Stonehenge is really the wilderness. At all. I stayed in the quaint and touristy little town nearest it, Salisbury, for two nights. Showed up at the train station, disembarked, and called the YHA hostel as I started walking toward it to see if I could book a room.

They were full. Cue one of those brow-furrowing, "Hmm" moments where all that's to be done is turn over your current predicament in your mind a bit before you can even start to churn out possible solutions.

Didn't know anyone. Evening. Exhausted. Didn't have anywhere to stay. Shit, I shouldda stayed in Oxford--that was a nice hostel, at least.

In the end, I just started walking into town. Really, there wasn't much else to be done. My plan was to stop at each hotel I saw and ask about prices, but the very first place I passed--a pub--advertised accommodation vacancies. So I went in, more or less ignored the harmless old drunks that wanted to hit on me, and arranged to rent a private room for twenty-five pounds a night. Not a bad deal, considering I'd had to pay eighteen pounds a night in Oxford to share a room with fifteen other people.

I didn't actually make it out to Stonehenge until the next day. I came downstairs and met another American guy about my age from D.C. at breakfast. He was affable and nice, and we hung out pretty much all day.

I'd been told a few times that Stonehenge was kind of disappointing, so I had pretty low expectations. I needn't have bothered--Stonehenge was fantastic. No, you don't get to crawl over the stones and chip off pieces to take home, but I'm one of those people who finds that rather horrifying, anyway.

I want to go back and have a picnic out there one day. You're all welcome to join me. It's going to be wonderful. :)

I'm home.

I'm exhausted beyond belief and confused at how nothing seems to have changed, but very very pleased at the enormous pile of books waiting for me. I'm not even sure I'll be able to make it through them before classes start back up in September.

And yes, that is a lava lamp. And yes, I did win it at Chuck E. Cheese, thankyouverymuch.

Why hello there, Ahmurica. Happy bday.

(Originally posted on Tumblr on July 4, 2011.)

So the last few weeks, as predicted, were a big fat failure in terms of blogging. But really, they were too awesome to stop what I was doing and sit around on the computer for longer than it took to check my email and make sure there weren't any deadlines I was missing. (Housing for next year: boom. Sorted.)

I'm not in Edinburgh anymore. I flew away on a big fat jet plane yesterday afternoon and forgot that sleeping on said big fat jet plane might help negate the worst of jetlag. At this precise moment in time it's seven AM, Eastern time, and I've been up for almost two hours. Goodness gracious me-oh-my, I'm going to be exhausted by the time the fireworks start tonight.

(And a happy fourth of July to all the rest of the Ahmurica. Hope yours won't be as rainy as the one I'll be having.)

Getting through customs was a nightmare compared to every other trip through customs I've taken in the past year. (Even Heathrow, which you always hear horror stories about.) It's weird being around only one kind of accent. I kept using the wrong words in conversation last night. (My uncle had to ask what a "flat" is--an apartment.) I found the $25 USD my mother handed me last September to be used when I finally left Edinburgh, but I can't find my American sim card. I know it's around somewhere, but I remember putting it somewhere "safe" while I was packing for move-out (you remember, that night I didn't sleep?) and we all know how well that always turns out.

And... that's probably the extent of what you'll be hearing about my return-culture-shock, because to be honest it's completely unsettling and I'm not sure how to put everything into words. I do have internet access, though, and it looks like I'll be having plenty of quiet time to myself in the mornings. So there'll be anecdotes about traveling with Melbourne and her mother through England, wandering through Budapest, getting caught in the rain in Prague, and visiting Skye to see an (ex) flatmate. And I'll be going into NYC tomorrow and the day after, so... yeah. Be mentioning that as well, more'n likely.

It's all going to be all right. I could use some quiet time to myself, probably. And I've got plenty of new books to read. :)