vacation epilogue: the third world
So I did make it to Westminster Abbey yesterday, and was v. glad that I went. Afterwards, I had a quarter-pounder with cheese at McDonalds, and it was *awesome* (my time in Europe apparently turned me into Can Sar, although I can never hope to have his long, lithe legs), and a mocha at Starbucks. Then I talked to my parents in the park in Russell Square, picked up my bags from the hotel, and made my way to Heathrow.
It seemed, to my overtired brain, that as soon as I had checked in for my flight, the world wanted to remind me of the inepitude and bureaucracy that I faced by returning to India. The first reminder was when I ordered a bagel after checking in; I specifically asked for a plain bagel with cream cheese and salmon, but the dude decided to 'upgrade' me to The Classic, which was everything that I wanted plus dillweed, which I most certainly did not want. I laboriously scraped every bit of dill off the bagel, only to discover that the bagel itself was not good, and so threw the whole mess away. Sadness. Then, I went to my boarding gate, where I had another fun, completely inexplicable experience. I had already been through security (stringent, as might be expected since the British are a little jumpy right now) and done the whole metal-detector-and-xray-machine routine, and after that had only had the opportunity to walk through the duty-free area and buy my ill-fated bagel. But, at the gate for the flight to Mumbai/Bombay, Jet Airlines had set up their own additional second security check, replete with handheld wands and people to hand-inspect our luggage. The funny thing about this was that they didn't quite know what they were doing; the dude in front of me opened up his case to reveal that it contained a machine of some sort with dials on it, lots of wires, and a lot of packing material and 'fragile' stickers all over the place. The woman looked at it, looked at him, asked him what he did with that, he replied 'I fix engines', and she just closed it and asked him to move on. Then she said to me that she had no idea what that was, but if he'd made it through the first security check it must be okay. I could only smirk at my possible impending doom, since clearly security wasn't going to save me.
But, I made it to Mumbai safely, drowning out the sound of screaming babies by listening to Coldplay's new album on constant repeat for nine hours. I don't really like Coldplay, and I slept through it, but it's probably now deeply ingrained in my subconscious. You may wonder why I listened to it, but it was the only laidback album on Jet Airways' radio selection that wasn't easy listening or country, so I didn't have much choice. Happily, I did not have a nervous breakdown upon having to sit in the Mumbai airport for four hours; instead, I read an entire Georgette Heyer romance novel. Ismail called twice to check up on me, and I was not in the least bit annoyed to have someone planning all of my movements for me--he also reminded me not to eat anything in the airport, as though I needed a verbal reminder above my own fear of dysentery. I got back to Hyderabad on time, was picked up by Ansari (one of my favorite drivers), returned to my apartment, talked to Arod, took a shower, had mac and cheese for dinner, and watched three or four pirated episodes of 'Friends' before coming upstairs for the night.
I can't believe that I have to go to work tomorrow; talk about a letdown. But, I forgot that this is only a four-day week, since Friday is a holiday. If we can swing it, Arod, Matt and I are going to Dubai, but if the ticketing situation doesn't work out, we'll go someplace else instead.
I can't post pictures tonight because I'm too tired, but I did take 277 of them, so I'll put a few up in the coming days. Meanwhile, you'll have to satisfy yourself with this list of the things that Claudia and I saw, although I must admit that my memory is quickly failing me, so I'll probably miss some stuff:
Saturday, August 6 - London
-hamburgers!
Sunday, August 7 - London
-dim sum
-St James Park
-Buckingham Palace (the outside)
-Westminster Abbey (the outside)
-Tower Bridge
-the ridiculously-slow ferris wheel
-the Tower of London
-Leicester Square (premiere of 'The Island' = lots of fun pumping techno music as the backdrop for dinner)
Monday, August 8 - London
-Walter walking away
-the Temple (formerly the temple of the Knights Templar)
-St. Pauls Cathedral
-Millennium Bridge
-Tate Modern
Tuesday, August 9 - London to Rome
-Luton airport
-Colisseum
-some ruins around the colisseum
-some random churches interspersed between the train station and the colisseum
Wednesday, August 10 - Rome/Vatican
-Vatican Museums
-Sistine Chapel
-St Peters Basilica (including where they present the Sword of Destiny on certain days)
-a bunch of monuments, ruins, etc
-the Spanish Steps
-Trevi Fountain
-the Pantheon
-the Forum
-some obelisks
-some other fountains
-Lord Byron's place in Rome
-some other stuff
Thursday, August 11 - Rome to Venice to Florence
-St Marks Basilica
-the Doge's Palace
-the Bridge of Sighs
-a bunch of pigeons
-an eight-euro latte
-a couple of other cool churches
-the Grand Canal
-Rome, Venice, and Florence train stations
Friday, August 12 - Florence
-the Duomo (a cool cathedral)
-Sephora!! (a cool makeup store)
-Ponte Vecchio
-the five-hour line for the Uffizi Gallery (we didn't see the gallery, just the line)
-steak dinner!!
-across the Arno and up a hill for a great view of Florence
Saturday, August 13 - Florence
-an internet cafe (while Claude took a walking tour)
-Santa Maria Novella Church (while Claude was still on the walking tour)
-Museo Borghese (some famous stuff there, but I've forgotten)
-San Lorenzo church (the Medici family church)
-Capella Medici (more Medici stuff, obviously, and pretty cool)
-the ocean for dinner (pasta covered in lots of sea creatures)
-Palazzo Pitti (just the outside, v. pretty)
Sunday, August 14 - Florence to Genoa to Nice to Bordeaux
-lots of sitting in the train
-two hours of the train station in Genoa
-a funny little tour of Nice
-dinner in Nice
-the beach in Nice
-night train to Bordeaux
Monday, August 15 - Bordeaux
-a funny little tour of Bordeaux
-the dirty dirty hostel
-lots of sitting in the one open cafe--it was Assumption Day in France and most things were closed
-walking around looking at churches
-the cathedral where Eleanor of Aquitaine married one of her two husbands (can't remember if it was the French king Louis, or the English king Henry II)--and the cathedral was haunting because it was in a state of near-complete disrepair
Tuesday, August 16 - Bordeaux, night to Paris
-more walking around
-wine tour of Bordeaux countryside (not nearly as much wine as Sonoma wine tours, but still entertaining)
-tasty steak dinner!
-night train to Paris
Wednesday, August 17 - Paris
-Notre Dame
-Arc de Triomphe
-Champs-Elysees
-Tuileries Gardens
-the Louvre (mona lisa, venus di milo, winged victory, lots of paintings and sculptures and artifacts, etc.)
-Pont Neuf (featured in 'The Bourne Identity' as well as a Nancy Drew book whose title eludes me)
-boat tour on the Seine
-the Eiffel Tower (all the way to the top!)
Thursday, August 18 - Paris, late afternoon to London
-Rodin Museum (most of the good pieces are also at Stanford, so weird)
-Musee d'Orsay (lots of great impressionist stuff)
-Champs Elysees (broke down and got lipgloss at the Sephora flagship store there)
-parted ways with Claudia :(
-channel tunnel to London
Friday, August 19 - London
-lunch with Lea in Leicester Square
-book shopping
-starbucks
-thwarted attempt at the hard rock cafe
-bubble bath!
Saturday, August 20 - London to Mumbai
-Westminster Abbey
-McDonalds
-Starbucks
-Heathrow
Sunday, August 21 - Mumbai to Hyderabad
-dirt
-dysentery
-just kiddding--it's great to be back in India, and I was surprisingly excited to return (once going back to London was no longer an option)
Okay, I shall post pictures from some of my exploits later, but now I should go to bed!
It seemed, to my overtired brain, that as soon as I had checked in for my flight, the world wanted to remind me of the inepitude and bureaucracy that I faced by returning to India. The first reminder was when I ordered a bagel after checking in; I specifically asked for a plain bagel with cream cheese and salmon, but the dude decided to 'upgrade' me to The Classic, which was everything that I wanted plus dillweed, which I most certainly did not want. I laboriously scraped every bit of dill off the bagel, only to discover that the bagel itself was not good, and so threw the whole mess away. Sadness. Then, I went to my boarding gate, where I had another fun, completely inexplicable experience. I had already been through security (stringent, as might be expected since the British are a little jumpy right now) and done the whole metal-detector-and-xray-machine routine, and after that had only had the opportunity to walk through the duty-free area and buy my ill-fated bagel. But, at the gate for the flight to Mumbai/Bombay, Jet Airlines had set up their own additional second security check, replete with handheld wands and people to hand-inspect our luggage. The funny thing about this was that they didn't quite know what they were doing; the dude in front of me opened up his case to reveal that it contained a machine of some sort with dials on it, lots of wires, and a lot of packing material and 'fragile' stickers all over the place. The woman looked at it, looked at him, asked him what he did with that, he replied 'I fix engines', and she just closed it and asked him to move on. Then she said to me that she had no idea what that was, but if he'd made it through the first security check it must be okay. I could only smirk at my possible impending doom, since clearly security wasn't going to save me.
But, I made it to Mumbai safely, drowning out the sound of screaming babies by listening to Coldplay's new album on constant repeat for nine hours. I don't really like Coldplay, and I slept through it, but it's probably now deeply ingrained in my subconscious. You may wonder why I listened to it, but it was the only laidback album on Jet Airways' radio selection that wasn't easy listening or country, so I didn't have much choice. Happily, I did not have a nervous breakdown upon having to sit in the Mumbai airport for four hours; instead, I read an entire Georgette Heyer romance novel. Ismail called twice to check up on me, and I was not in the least bit annoyed to have someone planning all of my movements for me--he also reminded me not to eat anything in the airport, as though I needed a verbal reminder above my own fear of dysentery. I got back to Hyderabad on time, was picked up by Ansari (one of my favorite drivers), returned to my apartment, talked to Arod, took a shower, had mac and cheese for dinner, and watched three or four pirated episodes of 'Friends' before coming upstairs for the night.
I can't believe that I have to go to work tomorrow; talk about a letdown. But, I forgot that this is only a four-day week, since Friday is a holiday. If we can swing it, Arod, Matt and I are going to Dubai, but if the ticketing situation doesn't work out, we'll go someplace else instead.
I can't post pictures tonight because I'm too tired, but I did take 277 of them, so I'll put a few up in the coming days. Meanwhile, you'll have to satisfy yourself with this list of the things that Claudia and I saw, although I must admit that my memory is quickly failing me, so I'll probably miss some stuff:
Saturday, August 6 - London
-hamburgers!
Sunday, August 7 - London
-dim sum
-St James Park
-Buckingham Palace (the outside)
-Westminster Abbey (the outside)
-Tower Bridge
-the ridiculously-slow ferris wheel
-the Tower of London
-Leicester Square (premiere of 'The Island' = lots of fun pumping techno music as the backdrop for dinner)
Monday, August 8 - London
-Walter walking away
-the Temple (formerly the temple of the Knights Templar)
-St. Pauls Cathedral
-Millennium Bridge
-Tate Modern
Tuesday, August 9 - London to Rome
-Luton airport
-Colisseum
-some ruins around the colisseum
-some random churches interspersed between the train station and the colisseum
Wednesday, August 10 - Rome/Vatican
-Vatican Museums
-Sistine Chapel
-St Peters Basilica (including where they present the Sword of Destiny on certain days)
-a bunch of monuments, ruins, etc
-the Spanish Steps
-Trevi Fountain
-the Pantheon
-the Forum
-some obelisks
-some other fountains
-Lord Byron's place in Rome
-some other stuff
Thursday, August 11 - Rome to Venice to Florence
-St Marks Basilica
-the Doge's Palace
-the Bridge of Sighs
-a bunch of pigeons
-an eight-euro latte
-a couple of other cool churches
-the Grand Canal
-Rome, Venice, and Florence train stations
Friday, August 12 - Florence
-the Duomo (a cool cathedral)
-Sephora!! (a cool makeup store)
-Ponte Vecchio
-the five-hour line for the Uffizi Gallery (we didn't see the gallery, just the line)
-steak dinner!!
-across the Arno and up a hill for a great view of Florence
Saturday, August 13 - Florence
-an internet cafe (while Claude took a walking tour)
-Santa Maria Novella Church (while Claude was still on the walking tour)
-Museo Borghese (some famous stuff there, but I've forgotten)
-San Lorenzo church (the Medici family church)
-Capella Medici (more Medici stuff, obviously, and pretty cool)
-the ocean for dinner (pasta covered in lots of sea creatures)
-Palazzo Pitti (just the outside, v. pretty)
Sunday, August 14 - Florence to Genoa to Nice to Bordeaux
-lots of sitting in the train
-two hours of the train station in Genoa
-a funny little tour of Nice
-dinner in Nice
-the beach in Nice
-night train to Bordeaux
Monday, August 15 - Bordeaux
-a funny little tour of Bordeaux
-the dirty dirty hostel
-lots of sitting in the one open cafe--it was Assumption Day in France and most things were closed
-walking around looking at churches
-the cathedral where Eleanor of Aquitaine married one of her two husbands (can't remember if it was the French king Louis, or the English king Henry II)--and the cathedral was haunting because it was in a state of near-complete disrepair
Tuesday, August 16 - Bordeaux, night to Paris
-more walking around
-wine tour of Bordeaux countryside (not nearly as much wine as Sonoma wine tours, but still entertaining)
-tasty steak dinner!
-night train to Paris
Wednesday, August 17 - Paris
-Notre Dame
-Arc de Triomphe
-Champs-Elysees
-Tuileries Gardens
-the Louvre (mona lisa, venus di milo, winged victory, lots of paintings and sculptures and artifacts, etc.)
-Pont Neuf (featured in 'The Bourne Identity' as well as a Nancy Drew book whose title eludes me)
-boat tour on the Seine
-the Eiffel Tower (all the way to the top!)
Thursday, August 18 - Paris, late afternoon to London
-Rodin Museum (most of the good pieces are also at Stanford, so weird)
-Musee d'Orsay (lots of great impressionist stuff)
-Champs Elysees (broke down and got lipgloss at the Sephora flagship store there)
-parted ways with Claudia :(
-channel tunnel to London
Friday, August 19 - London
-lunch with Lea in Leicester Square
-book shopping
-starbucks
-thwarted attempt at the hard rock cafe
-bubble bath!
Saturday, August 20 - London to Mumbai
-Westminster Abbey
-McDonalds
-Starbucks
-Heathrow
Sunday, August 21 - Mumbai to Hyderabad
-dirt
-dysentery
-just kiddding--it's great to be back in India, and I was surprisingly excited to return (once going back to London was no longer an option)
Okay, I shall post pictures from some of my exploits later, but now I should go to bed!
posted by Sara @ 10:55 AM
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