Filling in the Gaps

OK, we have been so busy that I feel that I have been letting down an important group of people - YOU - my adoring public.

So, I plan on trying to fill some of the gaps in our stories, as I have not really told you guys much detail about our time in New York, London, Amsterdam, Bruges, or Paris.


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I will start with NY. We had heard that if you go into Time Square and queue up at the red TKTS booth (under the red stairs), then you can get half price Broadway tickets to all the great shows. We headed there on our first day in New York, with the plan of buying half price Lion King, Chicago or Guys and Dolls tickets. When we got there at around 5:30PM all that was left were shows that we had never even heard of, although one had Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett, but we thought we could do better and planned to do a show a few days later (when we next had a free night with no sporting events planned). Me in Times Square:


So, a few days pass, and Cara and I return to Times Square, this time just before the 2PM opening time for the TKTS booth. And there is a huge queue. I mean, really huge. We had been told that the line looks long but will move fast and so we joined it. It took one and a half hours before we got our tickets. In that time promising shows such as Chicago and Guys and Dolls (featuring Oliver Platt and the chick from Gilmore Girls) had sold out and so we bought tickets to a show called The Fantasticks. It was apparently a delightful musical. We went and checked out the outside of the Letterman Theatre and then got dinner.


It turned out that the show was in the Jerry Orbach Memorial Theatre (dedicated to the main police officer actor from the original Law and Order series). It had some cool photo of him on the wall. We then went inside, and while the show was OK, it seemed a tad amateurish. But one of the guys playing the father had a bit-part in No Country For Old Men, so we figured it was at least somewhat legit. And it was on Broadway! We got a milkshake on the way home, and were excited about our fun night.

While in London I got to see my Cousins Julie and Peter, which was great. It would have been nice to be able to spend more time with them, but after being delayed in the US, we suddenly didn't have too much spare time in the schedule. Cara and I got to say hello to Katie and all of the kids, and spend an afternoon relaxing and playing video games with Daniel. Then it was off into the countryside to meet up with Cara's Mum's cousin Lin. She and her husband Duncan were great fun, and we had a quick look at the English countryside before having a great meal at a pub originally built by King Henry VIII.

Other things we did in London included:
- Visiting the Science Museum and exploring. We saw lots of medical history and some steam engines.
- Going into the National gallery and enjoying all of the great free art there. We saw Van Gogh, Monet, Manet and a bunch others that I can barely remember.
- I took Cara to see London Bridge, Tower Bridge, The Egg, The Gherkin, The Thames and The Tower Of London. Here she is, looking great in front of the Tower Bridge.

- We went on the London Eye (although it was a little bit hazy), and it was more fun than I thought it would be. Followed by walking around all the things we had seen from the sky; Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.
- We had some pub meals and some beer. I programmed Belle and Sebastian "White Collar Boy", The Fratellis "Look Out Sunshine", and Muse "Starlight" into the video jukebox on our last night in town, me and Cara grooved a little. Ok, maybe a lot.
- We took the tube. A lot.
- Go to Harrods and explore. It is basically like a big Myers, but way bigger and with a lot more variety. We saw a crystal and precious stone inlaid foosball table selling for 80,000 pounds. That is ridiculous. But ferg would love it:



When we left London we had to fly out of Gatwick at 7AM. The last train from London Victoria Station to Gatwick leaves at 3:30AM. So we went to bed at 10PM and tried to sleep. Woke up at 2:15AM, caught a bus to London Victoria Station and got to the airport, we then had some serious time to kill, so we had breakfast. Good thing too, because the "legendary" British Airways breakfast was a festy looking ham and cheese roll with congealed buttercheese and stale bread. We got into Amsterdam and attempted to check into our hotel, however they had not yet finished building it, so we were ferried from our planned accomodation to a different hotel in the same chain. They are called Citizen M, and are a modular hotel chain. Each room arrives in a shipping container and is connected together like Lego. They also have giant beds, weird circular showers and toilets, and a "MoodPod" which controls everything in the room from the temperature to the blinds and the colour of the lights. Here is a picture of our ultra-modern room:


Amsterdam was so pretty, with its canals and cobblestones, and I was a little shocked about it. I was a little afraid that Bruges would not be able to live up to how picturesque Amsterdam had turned out to be. Cara and I ate at an Argentinean steak-house and had a few drinks at a bar before wandering around the cafe strip and a little of the red-light district. It is quite an eye-opener. Then it was back to CitizenM to sleep.

The next day we rode the train to Bruges, and it was great! Way more room than on a plane, and it takes longer so you have more time to relax, read, eat, sleep and listen to music. We spotted Windmills and Tulips, and everything you expect to see, except for the milkmaids with the upside-down, blonde, plaits and clogs on. A field of tulips (as seen from the train):


I think I will continue my story with Bruges tomorrow, but first I will give you a quick update on our current status; we are in Paris, Cara is asleep right now and it is late, we go to the Moulin Rouge and the Louvre tomorrow. And I need some sleep.

Au revoir.

P.S. And we can see the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room(I'll upload the photo next time).