She's Got a Ticket to Ride

The title of this blog refers to the fact that I took just about every single form of transportation during this past weekend, which I spent in the UK. My purse is now filled with plane, train, bus, and tube tickets that were all used by me in the 4 days that I was there. Let’s do a by the numbers to show you how many of each I took
4: train tickets I used
5: trains I actually took
2: planes that I flew on
unlimited: tube and bus rides
But as I look back on the weekend I realize that without these modern forms of transportation, my weekend would never have been able to turn out as wonderful as it did.

Once arriving in Heathrow, I booked it to the tube station in the airport (after being questioned for my reason for visiting the UK in passport control) and made the last tube in just the nick of time. Thank goodness I did. Although I don’t mind the bus, I know that I would have gone slightly crazy trying to navigate it after my annoyance at Alitalia.

My arrival at the flat was such a happy homecoming. Seeing Sarah, Angelica, and Jason in so many ways made me feel more calm and centered than I have been in a week or two. There was something that was just so natural about sitting on a couch with our computers and chatting it up. It was a perfect throw back to 5th floor Letts freshman year.

After a much needed night’s sleep, I woke up and headed towards Westminster Abbey with Jason, Anglelica, and a few of their flat mates (13 of them live there!!!). We all paid what I seem to remember as £7 to get in, and another £5 for the tour. Yet, it was all well worth it, because I never thought that I could enjoy a tour of a church as much as I did. Besides being incredibly beautiful, the information that I learned while there was so interesting. For instance, did you know that Darwin was buried in the Abbey? Or, did you know that there was a man who could only afford a 2 foot x 2 foot burial plot in the Abbey, so he is the only person who is buried standing up? The tour was full of facts along these lines that I would never have found out about otherwise, so the tour was fully worth my $10. (Just as a reminder to all of you out there who don’t know, or who have forgotten, the $2 = £1)

From there, Jason, Angelica, and I took a double decker bus (!) over to Buckingham Palace. After stepping up onto the second level of the bus, I immediately decided that this mode of transportation was far superior to the Tube. The 4 of us set out to find a Barclays (a bank), and from there decided that food was 100% necessary. The first thing that we found was a cute place called The Slug and Lettuce. I HAD CHICKEN THERE!!! I know that seems a bit excessive for a bit of poultry, but you have no idea how happy I was to see it on the menu. In Italy they don’t normally serve chicken in restaurants because it is seen as something that can be made easily at home, so why have it when you go out? That first bite of my fried chicken wrap was a small slice of heaven. It was a great meal until the end when our waiter forgot about us (in typical UK style) and I had to actually get up to get the check. Silly British people!

Next stop on our list was Hyde Park. Now, let me just preface this by saying that I felt almost as if being there was as though I was shown a slice of life in London. You should see Sarah’s blog for a good description of our time there. But essentially it was a beautiful day for a walk through the park, and I enjoyed my time there very much – crazy pigeon lady and all!

That night we went out to a pub to grab dinner, and then we headed to another pub to watch the Rugby world cup. I have decided a few things…
#1 – I don’t understand Rubgy. Why any mother would let their son play that sport is beyond my comprehension
#2 – I really like cider. It is like drinking apple juice, only better. And besides, it beats beer is just about every single way
#3 – Don’t go to a pub with the same number of males as females. Everyone thinks that you are two couples and won’t come over and talk to you

The next morning I woke up and headed to the Euston tube stop to meet Marc Schutzbank so that we could go to Yom Kippur services together. I was supposed to meet him at 10:30. So, I got there at what I thought was 10:25. I waited 30 minutes for him, and when he never came I frantically called him. When Marc picked up the phone he told me he was still in his room getting ready. Stupid me. My phone didn’t change time zones when I got to London, so I woke up an hour early and got to the station an hour early. Essentially I am really, really stupid. When Marc arrived at what was really 10:30, he told me that it wasn’t a big deal, but I still found myself feeling quite silly.

Services were truly lovely. I made the right decision to go to London for Yom Kippur. I needed the time to feel connected to the Jewish part of myself that isn’t always fed in Rome. The sermon that the rabbi (who was American!) did centered on the idea that we need to use the future to define the past. We need to take what we have done and allow it to help us in the coming months and years. I normally start to nod off during sermons, but for this one I was alive, awake, and enthusiastic through the entire thing. I think that I should take that as a sign…

For the better part of the day, Marc and I just wandered around the city taking everything in and talking about everything under the sun (as per usual). The funny thing is that we kept coming back to topics that revolved around food without even realizing it. – since we both were fasting.
Towards the end of the day we wound up at a park (whose name I forget) up by Camden (which is a very cool area that is perfect for people watching). We saw a group of guys dressed up in weird clothing and playing cricket. Marc went over to talk to them, and found out that it was a “stag party,” aka a bachelor party. The stag decided to have all of his mates dress up as characters from the 18th century and do activities that would have been done in that time period. As I said before, check out Marc’s blog for more on our afternoon.

The temple that we went to set us up with a family for break the fast. The house was gorgeous and huge and amazing and… Everyone was very nice and really interested in what Marc and I were doing over on this side of the pond. As Marc said, a Jewish mother is a Jewish mother wherever you go. They always want you to eat more and to make yourself comfortable and at home.

After breaking the fast, I scooted out early and headed to Victoria station so that I could catch a train to go out to Ramsgate to spend the night and the most of the next day with Stacey, Kurt, and Astin – my family on this side of the pond. My trip out there was somewhat of a nightmare. Work was being done on the track, so I had to take an hour long train to Stood, then take a 40 minute bus ride to then get on another hour long train that would take me to Ramsgate. I got there at 2 in the morning! Kurt was waiting for me on the platform. I didn’t get off the train right away because I fell asleep in typical Elyse fashion, and the conductor had to wake me up.

The next day I hung out with my family and we did silly things like go to the grocery store (where I bought lots of food to bring back with me!) and go to the nursery to get a pot to go in the backyard. The 3 of us also cooked in the afternoon. Kurt made steak, shrimp, broccoli, corn, and an apple-blackberry crumble for me! YUMM And then Stace and I made chocolate chip bars!! Just like home!

The train ride back was much easier than going out there – direct to London Victoria. Yet, it was also quite hard because I was sad about leaving them. I know that I need to go back once more before going back to the States. Staying away from their little house on Station Approach Road just doesn’t seem possible. It just feels so much like home.

Once back in London, I stayed awake all night in order to catch the bus to Heathrow – my flight was at 6:50 in the morning! I got on the plane and passed out from exhaustion immediately, but I view that as being a good thing, because I had a wonderful weekend. There is little more than I could have asked for. I am such a lucky girl!