A Trip to the North

Good evening readers!

To those of you who've just had a week off: I hope you had a nice week! To the others, well, I hope you had a nice week too mwa ha ha.

I was lucky enough to have a week off myself! So with the German assistant, we decided to make a trip to the north of England! Our destinations: Lincoln, Leeds, York and Newcastle. We found a really cheap and quite nice hotel in Leeds, where we spent three nights. In Newcastle, we stayed in the YHA hostel which, to my surprise, was really nice as well. We had also booked all our train tickets in advance. We were, in fact, very well organised (a German girl and a Swiss girl.... we had to be XD).

Instead of writing a loOoooOoOoong article about the whole trip, I'll write one article per town, as I think it will not only be easier for me, but also for you!

Enjoy! =)

Me in the Paper!

Hi!

A quick article to tell you that I was in the paper today! In the February edition of the Soham Bulletin to be precise. Why? Because last month, a lady came to take some pictures of our Zumba class to write an article about it. Here is the article:

And here is the picture!


I'm the one in light green by the way ;)

My Friends Visit Me!

Good evening people!

Last Friday, two of my friends came here in England. I met them on Saturday though, in Cambridge. We spent a really nice couple of days! It was their first time ever in England, so I think they were very excited! =D I was too of course. It's nice to share things and places you like with your friends! So here is an article about a crazy visit!!

On Saturday morning, I took the bus to Cambridge and oh miracle! it was on time. I even had to wait for my friends, who themselves were late. Well at least that gave me time to have a quick wee mwa ha ha. We went all crazy and hysterical for a while and then started what was planned: visiting the lovely town of Cambridge!

We had a look at a couple of Colleges and churches. We went inside the St. John's College, which is my personal favourite and visited the King's College Chapel which is rather impressive. We even went punting! That's always fun. The weather was not so good though, and the guide was er... peculiar. He lisped and had a strange accent, which made him really hard to understand.

For lunch, we had a Cornish pasty. Yum. I love those. Gwendoline and I had a traditional pasty and Aline ordered a salmon pasty (yum as well). And at tea time, we went to Auntie's Tea Room to savour a luscious cream tea. I hadn't had one in a while (crocodile) and I really enjoyed it!

We also did a little shopping, as Cambridge has many nice shops! I believe my friends liked Cambridge! I at least enjoyed showing them around!


Gwendoline and me messing around in telephone boxes


Aline and Gwendoline, posing before the Bridge of Sighs


In front of the famous King's College Chapel


It was, as you can maybe see, *quite* windy this weekend!!


Delicious Cornish pasty!


Mmmmh cream tea =P

On Saturday night, we went to this night club, called De Niro's. It's in Newmarket and it's the biggest night club in Norfolk. Well, it was not bad but I have to say I was a bit disappointed... First of all, it was big all right, but I expected much, much bigger. The website is misleading.

When we got there, it was about 22:00-22:30 and it was almost empty. People had only started arriving. We had a drink and enjoyed the show: girls dressed (or not) like prostitutes. Killer heels, super short dresses and shorts and plunging necklines. Some of them were quite disgusting. Some of them were ridiculous, as they could barely walk. We had a good laugh! And we also felt like nuns, with our jeans and trainers! We must have been the only girls wearing trousers and flat shoes....

We danced for a while, then had another drink. The same songs were played over and over so it was a bit boring. At around 1-1:30am, they changed the DJ and the music got so loud that we sheltered in the toilets for a while and then decided it was time to leave! It was horrible. I had ringing in my ears and that was not pleasant!

But we still had a good time. We were together, so that was what mattered!!



On Sunday, we brunched at Chatterbox, a nice and new café in Soham. We had a full English Breakfast, consisting of: two slices of bacon, a sausage (which none of us liked, yuk), one scrambled egg, beans with tomato sauce, two slices of fresh tomato, some mushrooms, some crunchy hash browns and toasts. I got orange juice with mine but Gwendoline and Aline had some English breakfast tea with theirs. It was really nice. I enjoyed every bite of it. Apart from the sausage which was really.... weird.


After that filling breakfast, we took a cab to Ely! Yeah, no buses on Sundays! How inconvenient, to say the least... We first walked along the river. The weather was ok! Then we went to town and had a quick look around, before going inside the cathedral. It's free on Sunday. Aline took some pictures too, which is good, because I didn't have any!!






In the evening, we went to the Indian restaurant in Soham. It's a buffet on Sundays and you can eat how much you want for only £6.95. I really liked it and ate faaaar too much. The nan bread was not so nice though and the food was not hot enough. But totally worth the price in my opinion!! Yummm =P


On Monday, Aline and Gwendoline went to Norwich. I couldn't go with them cause I had to go to school! So I won't talk about Monday. I think they enjoyed Norwich and they bought some mustard there!

Tuesday was a crazy day. We headed off to London. We took the train at about 9am and arrived in Piccadilly Circus at about 11am. That's where our bus tour started. We had booked tickets for London's Original Bus Tour two days before, as we thought it would be the best way to make the most of our only day in London.

And it was indeed! We saw almost everything: Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (which my friends loved hehehe how could they not have?), Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Tate Gallery, Shakespeare's Globe, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Covent Garden, Harrods, Soho... And on Wednesday, before going to the airport, my friends visited the British Museum, the Natural History museum and they walked around Camden Town. So in only two days, they pretty much did what normal and sane people do in one WEEK. The weather was the icing on the cake. Glorious, glorious weather. The sky was blue and it was not too cold. Besides, seeing Big Ben glittering in the sun is some sight! <3 I think they loved London. I was hoping they would. London is dear to my heart and I was eager to share my love for the city with my friends =D





Before dinner, we had a pint in a pub in Covent Garden. Gwendoline and Aline had half a pint of beer and I had half a pint of cider, as I utterly hate beer. I wish I didn't, but the fact is, I do.


And for dinner, my friends invited me to a Japanese restaurant in Soho, called Satsuma. We wanted sushi. And we had sushi and other things as well. It was truly delicious! I had two maki, two California rolls and two other kinds of sushi (can't remember their name), fried veg and prawns, breaded sweet potatoes (that was lovely), tasty noodles, some salad and a nice and salted soup. I hope to eat there again. I really enjoyed it, and my friends did too!


We were shattered when we came back. We went to bed at around midnight. It was a wonderful yet exhausting day!! But totally worth it!

And that was the last day! My friends left on Wednesday morning. I had a lovely time with them, and did my best in order to make their stay a pleasant one. I hope I succeeded!

=D

A Weekend in Berlin

Hello, my dearest readers!

I know; I'm late! I was in Berlin last weekend and am only writing about it now, one week later! How rude! But see, it was a crazy weekend and I needed some time to, er, recover. I think I have now, though, hence the article.

I have a friend who's studying in Berlin at the moment and I thus decided to visit her! Why not? I mean, the flights are really cheap and I haven't come in England to spend boring and empty weekends! Besides, I had never been to Berlin and I really wanted to. So many people had told me how great a city it was, and I wanted to see it for myself. Now I can add a capital city to my list; London, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Washington, La Havana, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Bern, of course, the capital of Switzerland! I need to check out Madrid and Vienna. And some others of course.

Anyway. I flew from Stansted on Thursday evening, just after my classes. I just left with a backpack. As I flew with Ryanair, my small suitcase was not small enough. But a backpack was perfectly fine. I didn't need much for just a weekend did I? My flight was delayed. Of course. I'm so damn unlucky with airports, how could it not have been! I still arrived in Berlin, safe and sound. My friend had given me a meeting point, cause she couldn't come and pick me up at the airport, so I had to take the public transports. Taking the U-Bahn was easy - a lot easier than I'd thought it'd be. I arrived at destination at about midnight. Not TOO bad.

I then settled in my friend's bedroom (she lives in a flat-share, with three flatmates (a Swiss guy, a German guy and a German girl)). We "quickly" discussed what I'd be doing the following day. We mostly talked about other things though haha. We hadn't seen each other for months, so we had things to chat about! We went to bed at around 2am. A relaxing and refreshing weekend had started my friends!

On Friday, I explored alone, as my friend had uni classes. In the morning, I visited the beautiful and astonishing Pergamon Museum. It houses ancient buildings, such as the gate of the Great Altar of Pergamon, or the Ishtar Gate. That was really amazing. I could have spent ages in there, but I had other things planned!

On the "museum island" you can also see the huge Berliner Dom, which is surrounded by really irritating beggars. Anyway. I was still impressed by this massive building.

After this really interesting visit, I headed out to the Alexanderplatz, in the middle of which stands the highest tower of the city: the Fernsehturm (300m high). You can literally see it from everywhere in Berlin. I had great expectations, but found it quite disappointing to be honest. Yes, it is imposing, but it's not what you could call nice-looking. It's just a grey tower. With a striped-red-and-white antenna on the top. Anyway. Here is a picture anyway!

Oh! I forgot to tell you about the Ampelmännchen! They're like, the symbol of Berlin. You know? Those little guys who tell you to cross the road, or stay where you are and wait? Well in Berlin, they're cool, unlike in most other places. They're cool and you can buy them as pens, rubbers, postcards, sweets (I know, right?), everything! I bought a postcard. The magnets were too expensive haha.

It was then time to eat. Yeah people. Berlin is the America of Europe. Germans like to eat. Do not miss the famous Currywurst when you go to the German capital. It's a pork sausage with curry sauce and it's often served with chips or fried potatoes. It's really healthy hahaha. I liked it. And I was very hungry when I had it so it filled me up goooood.

After lunch, I went to the Charlottenburg Schloss (castle). It's a nice building and I wish I could have gone inside. I didn't have time though, and it was a bit expensive.

Then it was time to go south. I went to see this church, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. It's a beautiful church, except that it is now being renovated. I'm always so lucky! (<-- that's me being ironical). I went inside the new building though. It was nice, I guess...? haha

Then, I went to KaDeWe, a famous shopping centre in Berlin. It's quite expensive though. I had a nice pastry with coconut and dates. Mmmmh tasty.

And then, finally, it was time to meet my friend, buy some food, and go home!

On Saturday, I had a personal guided tour of Berlin. It's my friend's second year in the capital, so she knows it pretty well! Which is good for me hehe.

Our first stop was the government district, where the Reichstag (Parliament) is. Only, when we came out of the main station, we were surprised and swallowed by a protest. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people protesting against GMOs. You could see people dressed up as cows and chickens and giant plastic corns hovering around. The crowd was really calm and relaxed; no pushing, no shoving. I was surprised. We still needed 30 minutes to elbow our way through the marchers.

Once we were out, we made our way to the Reichstag and its surroundings =)

The Reichstag (first picture) is perfectly symmetrical. That's why I took a very symmetrical picture of it haha. The German way =D

Then we wandered in the maze of the Jewish monument. I was touched by this monument, which represents tombs, getting taller and higher. It's infinite, just as the holocaust was. Really cool, but really sad too.

After that, we walked to the Brandebourg gate, Berlin's most famous monument (I think haha) and the city's symbol. It also symbolises the reunified Germany.

After that, we saw Checkpoint Charlie, the place where, back in the day, you'd leave the American sector for the Russian one.

Before going to our last spot, we had "lunch". My lunch consisted of a donut from Dunkin' Donuts, a café au lait, and a Berliner. It's a kind of doughnut filled with marmalade, and covered with sugar. Really nice. And really healthy. A weekend in Berlin is good for your health, trust me!

Finally, we made our way to the Potsdamer Platz, a new and modern plaza. There you can find the Sony centre, the film museum and Berlin's most famous café (sorry, I can't seem to remember its name!). We had a drink there and had to wait for like 30 minutes to get it. The waiter was really lazy!!!

But the day didn't end there! We had a night out! We went out with my friend's flatmates and some of her flatmates' friends. First we had a beer in a bar. Well I didn't. I hate beer. I still had a sip, you know, to be able to say that I had a beer in Berlin. We then went to a club called "Tresor". The music was really loud, and shit. Fortunately, we were in a party mood and had a bit too much to drink, so we still had a lot of fun! Until 6am... Hahaha!!! I had a great time. Once again, I was surprised by the Berliner's relaxed and quiet behaviour. It was very enjoyable.

On Sunday afternoon (well yeah, when you go to sleep at 7:30am, you usually do not get up at 9am do you?) we had a nice walk alongside the Berlin Wall. We saw the painted part. It's like an open air gallery. Various artists painted the wall so it looks really cool! Besides, it was all repainted last year, for the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, so the colours are all bright and beautiful =D

And then, I went to the airport and bye bye Berlin!! My journey went smoothly. Nothing to declare haha.

I had a wonderful time in Berlin and I'm really glad I went. It's not a really beautiful city, but the capital's atmosphere is so nice and welcoming. It's a truly charming place!! And there are still things I need to see there. I'm saving them for the next time! =)

Ach Berlin!! =D

One Week with my Little Bro!

Good afternoon ladies & gentlemen!

After Christmas, my brother Will visited me and spent one week with me. So I thought it may be worth an article in my blog!

The first day, we went to Cambridge. My brother spent one month in Cambridge one and a half year ago so he was glad to be there again! We had sushi for lunch and then made our way to cineworld, to see Gulliver's Travels. We both really enjoyed the movie and wished it'd been longer! I highly recommend it to anyone! *Note to myself: find the book, buy the book, and READ the book!*

On Tuesday, we went to Norwich. We were really lucky with the weather! We just walked around the town. I think Will enjoyed it!

I had lessons in Ely on Wednesday so we just had a look around Soham in the afternoon. There's not much to see, but it's still where I'm living, so I thought my brother should have a look!

On Thursday, I brought Will to school and after my classes, we went into the Ely Cathedral and went on a guided tour. The guide was really funny and I found the tour really interesting. I hadn't been inside the cathedral before - except for the carol concert - so it was about time I went!

On Friday, we went to Cambridge again, had sushi again, and went to the cinema again. The weather was horrible, so it was not such a bad thing to go! We saw Meet the Parents: Little Fockers. It was funny!

And on Saturday, my host mum drove us to Bury St. Edmunds, where we had a quick look around, before going to my host mum's sister to have a yummy chili con carne =P We spent a lovely evening!!

Finally, on Sunday, we took the first train to London. We spent a couple of hours in the capital, walking around and enjoying the sun. Our last stop was Victoria station, where I said goodbye to my brother who took the Gatwick Express to.... Gatwick!

I had a lovely time with my little bro and I hope he did too! =)

This picture was taken in May 2010, in the Lake District. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my brother's stay in Cambridgeshire!!