And Back Again to that Foggy Place.

I spent January 10th to 18th back in the London area with 17 7th-grade girls who did an exchange with a private girls school called Tormead. It was an extremely busy week, but we had great fun - the English teachers were amazing hosts and the girls had a great time in their families. The girls would go to classes in the morning with their exchange partners, and then usually we would have a planned activity to go on. We visited the Globe Theatre again, which was perfect for me, and then the girls got to do a workshop on Romeo and Juliet where they all got up and acted and played theatre games - great for them, since they don't really do much of that at Le Caousou. We walked along the Thames, across several of the bridges, saw St.Paul's Cathedral, and took a trip in the London Eye. They also went to Portsmouth to see the HMS Victory (Admiral Nelson's ship), but I was stuck in traffic that day and didn't make the bus. I think they really liked seeing the sights, although at times I think their favorite parts were things like seeing London taxis and of course all the SHOPPING (this word was always followed by squeals of excitement). We did wear them out walking though, walking back from the train station and taking the rear, I felt like I was herding obstinate sheep or something, I really wanted to just spread my arms out and push them up the hill, hahaha...they were very fun to go traveling with though. :)

I stayed with an amazing family that I hope I won't lose contact with...Tina works at the girls school and is fluent in French, but works in the Special Education department. Isla is her daughter and she and I hit it right off. Hopefully I'll see them again if I ever pass through London! The pictures below are of Tina, Isla, and I, and a friend's property where Tina and a friend keep their horses. The house was amazing, classic, old, white-washed, perfect!

The English teachers and Tina and Isla introduced me to my new favorite form of a restaurant - pubs! Maybe I should start one in Alaska... I went to 3 in the time that I was there, each one with a different atmosphere - but more of the classic English touch. The first day we got into London it was absolutely freezing, and I'm telling you, a seat by the fire in a pub with mulled wine and a potatoe stuffed with veggies steaming hot, after you freeze your butt off outside and you have been up traveling with 17 very excited and loud French girls since 6:00 in the morning was -

Heaven!

The first weekend some of the English teachers, Odette (the English teacher I work with at Le Caousou) and I toured a brewery, which was really interesting. It was cool to see how all of the beer is made, and then the best part - free samples. They gave each of us on the tour (there were about 21 people all together, the English/French exchange group of us being about 5 or 6) a half pint glass, and we tasted 4 different beers. I managed my first half pint just fine, but then realized if I wanted to be able to walk out of the brewery without the support of my friends, I better just stick to a tasting a bit for the next 3 beers. There was a group of young travellers who had exactly the opposite mind set I did however, and it was hilarious watching them. Our guide gladly refilled our glasses each time, and they must have had 2 or 3 glasses for each beer...so in the end the must have had about 5 or 6 pints!!! "Anyone for a refill?" "Here, fill 'er up!" Gotta love it...

England definitely has some appeal. The people were fantastic, and honestly, why does everyone say that English food is awful? They tell me it's changed a lot, but I had no problem eating my fair share (of course, I've never really had a problem there...) Anyway, nice people, beautiful places, fun tourist sights, 17 crazy but lovable French girls, and some long lasting friends = good trip.

Rewind! (to two not-so-foggy days in London town).

Ok, I have a lot of catching-up to do!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long, guys. So! I won't waste any time, and I'll just start writing.

In early December I took a weekend trip to London. I flew out on a Saturday morning and came back to Toulouse late Monday night, so I had about two and a half days to visit the city. Being a museum freak, I tried to hit as many as I could, and also see some London classics.

Saturday evening I went to Trafalgar Square and the the National Gallery. It was fantastic to finally see some Da Vinci up close, instead of in the pages of a book. All the greats were there - Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Manet, de la Croix, etc. I can't remember them all now, and it was a long list...Trafalgar square itself was really pretty with Christmas lights and trees.

On Sunday I went to the Natural History Museum, which was great - except I think it may have been a mistake to go on a Sunday. Maybe the museum is busy everyday, but Sunday, it was crazy! And talk about little kids...they were absolutely everywhere. It took me about 2 hours to get through the dinosaur exhibit. At the end of the tour around the dinosaurs, there is a robotic replica of an adolescent T-Rex, which moves up and down, opens his mouth, and roars at you. I heard the little boy in front of me say, "It's ok Mum, I think I don't really need to see this," as if reassuring her that yes, it was OK if they left now, his feelings wouldn't be hurt. His mom looked down at him and said "No, honey, don't you want to see the T-Rex? He's right there, look, we're right next to him, sweetheart..." He sighed and said "Well, all right, I guess we'll just do it fast then." Like resigning himself for a shot...poor guy.

After the museum I headed off to check out Westminster Abbey. The weather was clear and cold, and the Houses of Parliament looked gorgeous and old against a cloudless blue sky. I took a picture the "Sovereign's Entrance." Obviously where I will go in next time I'm there.

After that I headed to the British Museum. Which is amazing. Who knew the Brits had so much loot? It's insane! Honest, they have half of the Parthenon and Egypt there...most of you probably knew that already, but I was astounded...I thought it was a bit sad that all of these old artifiacts and pieces of history weren't in their home country, but on the other hand, the Brits say that in the Museum, they are kept from being vandalized, and the world can see them easily. Who knows which one is best? Seing pieces of the Parthenon and statues of Akhenaten and Amhenhotep was pretty incredible. I saw the Rosetta Stone also, but never got a chance to go up close - it was constantly mobbed by Japanese tourists.

On Monday morning I took off to see the London Bridge and the London Tower. I didn't take a tour in the tower, since you have to pay, but I did get a look at the outside. When I go back to London on the 10th as a chaperone, I'm definitely going inside. The history of the tower is gruesome, and fascinating. Heads on stakes on the bridges, corpses dropped into the Thames. I decided to eat lunch at one of the fish and chips stands nearby, before going off to look for the Globe Theatre. So I bought my fish and chips, grabbed some ketchup for my fries, and sat down, ready to dig in and enjoy watching the school kids terrorize the sea gulls and the sea gulls terrorize the school kids in front of the Tower. I look down at my fish, and that's exactly what they gave me - not fish fingers, or pieces of fish fried and battered - but a whole fish. As in, entire fish, minus the tail fins and maybe the head (it was really hard to tell through the batter). So they bought this fish, possibly took the head off, dropped it in the batter, slapped it on some fries, and, in the immortal words of Emmeril, BAM! Fish and chips! Well, I'm a brave girl. I ate it. Until I realized that they only took of one side of the skin before frying up the little fishy. The other side was still nice and scaly.

The chips were good though.

After that I set off on my quest for the globe theatre. Which took about an hour to find, but I got there eventually. This time I paid for the tour to get inside the theatre, and it was glorious! A dream come true! I'm not going to launch into the whole history of the theatre, I'll suffice it to say that it is a really pretty, old theatre, and you better hope that if you lived in that day and age, you were not one of the people who payed one penny to get in, because if you did, you stood on the floor (it's an open theatre, so you were subjected to the weather), peed in the corner, and most likely stank incredibly.

After my tour, I high-tailed it to the train station, barely catching the train to the airport in time to get on my flight back to Toulouse.

What can I say? Willy S. and I could spend eons together.