Hobbits and Hendrix

Getting to the train today was a learning experience when it probably shouldn't have been. I made the rookie mistake of getting on the wrong tube line. I was getting on the Direct line and didn't get off at Glouster Road where I'm pretty sure I should have. The mistake I made was just getting on the first train that showed up. Multiple trains show up in the same spot from different lines. It's really not that confusing, but obviously it can be a little bit. When I got on the tube train I asked the guy sitting across from me if I was on the right line and if it went to Euston. Technically I was on the right line, just going a different route. Lucky for me this man (Johnny as I later found out) was taking the same route. He was very kind and let me just follow him. I have to say, being a social butterfly has been a huge help this trip!

Arriving at the Euston train station, I walked in and was immediately totally lost, dazed and confused. Thank you for that saying Dad and Led Zeppelin, it fits perfectly. However this time, instead of freaking out like the last time I was totally lost in a train station, I went straight up to a person in a uniform and asked what to do and where to go. Unlike Paris 2.5 years ago, I understood quickly what to do and felt competent again in a timely manner. From there on it was smooth sailing. I got on my train and have been enjoying Jimi Hendrix and the English countryside ever since.

The English countryside. That's something I've seen a good amount of but haven't really touched on that much to my memory. It is absolutely gorgeous. The amount of green and sheep (not one in the same) is astounding. I mean of course there is brown and dead here too as there should be during the winter. But this looks like Poway in the spring for that one week where everything is actually green before it remembers that actually, we're a desert. I can only say that because it is the dead of winter here so some of the fields are muddy and brown. The amount of green is still more so than Poway, for sure.

Moving on past the shrubbery(side-note: can't help but think of Monty Python when I say shrubbery in England) to the whole scene. When you throw in the rolling hills, little archways over streams, quaint houses, odd shapes of property that makes up a patchwork, and the way people look/act here, I can't help but think of the shire. That is hands down the best comparison I have thought of for England yet. You know in the Hobbit when Bilbo heads off with the crew and says he has to turn back for his handkerchief? Yup, that area and the actual shire is the English countryside. I said in an earlier post that one of the round-a-bouts that I passed could be a hobbit hole. It is so easy for me to imagine little hobbits walking around the countryside with their cups of tea enjoying the pleasantries of life.

So that's where I'm at right now. Riding the train away from the warmth and back to Liverpool after a wonderful short trip to London. Maggie and co. were wonderful! My adventures were very fun and now it's time to explore more of Liverpool. Hopefully I won't freeze! Until next time my faithful readers.

Love and pixels,

Kaylen

I ate lunch with dead people!

This was written on January 29th but posted today.

Today I explored London a little bit.  I got in last night and have been staying with Maggie.  She and her flatmates are awesome.  Plus, it's so warm here!! I'm loving the heat.  So today I ventured around London by myself and re-learned the tube system.  It really wasn't that bad or scary.  In fact, it was quite enjoyable.  First off, I met Maggie during her lunch hour in Trafalgar Square next to the George Washington statue.  Appropriate for the Americans, I know.  We went to this little cafe that Maggie has been wanting to try.  it was in a crypt.  It was AWESOME!  Hence my title.  They had identifiers of what food was gluten free, so nice!  Maggie and I enjoyed a hauntingly pleasant lunch.  Sadly, she could not spend the rest of the day with me.  Being a grown up sucks.

Into the National Gallery I went! Once inside, I realized that I totally forgot my original reasons for wanting to see the gallery.  Whoops!  So I started wandering around seeing if anything caught my eye.  The whole building is so extravagant and all the paintings are so well done.  It's a bit overwhelming to be honest. As I was wandering around I remembered that they probably had some DaVinci pieces.  Turns out I was right.  Since he is my favorite artist, naturally I went to find them.  I found the first DaVinci and was admiring it when my day really began.

As I was admiring the beauty of the artwork, a couple around my parent's age came up to the artwork as well.  We were all admiring the art and started talking about it.  Suddenly I found myself being shown to the other DaVinci painting by the husband who proved to be quite the art in enthusiast.  His name was John and the wife's name was Janine.  John was so passionate about all the art and Janine was very kind and easy to talk to.  Showing me to one painting turned into a guided tour of the National Gallery and the National Portrait gallery.  It was absolutely splendid!

We talked about their lives, where they were from and their kids.  Then they asked me about why I was in England, what home was like and what my ambitions were.  All the while John was taking me to another random painting that sprung to his mind.  I have to say, my tour of the National Gallery turned out to be so much more entertaining and educational that I ever thought it would be!  Interesting fact, both of them didn't understand why Van Gogh is famous.  They just didn't see what was so special about his work.  I'm not saying if I agree or disagree, but it was just an interesting observation.  As the day went on, they invited me to go to another museum with them.  But I couldn't because I was meeting up with Maggie after she got out of work.  I took a lovely picture with them which is included below.

After we took the picture we all thanked each other for a lovely day and went our separate ways.  I still had a bit of time before I had to meet up with Maggie, so I decided to take advantage of my beautiful surroundings at night.  I took some nights shots of Trafalgar Square and I rather like what I came up with for not having a tripod.  Hope you enjoy!

I met up with Maggie and we headed back to her place.  Now lucky for us, Maggie's roommate works in a pub and hooked us up with free food.  So dinner that night was free of charge!  It was lovely and I had a great time in London.

On the move again!

Hello all! This is super short but I thought I'd say hi. I'm currently on the bus from Liverpool to London for a short vacation inside my vacation. Going to see my great friend Maggie who I haven't seen since we graduated Cottey together! I CAN'T WAIT!! Anyway, that's all for now since I'm using the coach wifi. Cheers!
-Kaylen

Spending time with Albert

Sorry this hasn't been updated in about a week!  I have been so busy and running around and enjoying myself that I forgot to update you all.  So let's see, what did I do this week?  I adventured the Albert Dock by myself.  Yes that sounds sad, but it's actually something I'm really proud of.  The Albert Dock is at least a 30-40 in walk away from the house.  When I decided to go, no one was home so I had no guide.  Luckily I did have a rather cheap taxi number.  I got up my nerve and called myself a taxi.  I know that it really sounds like no big deal, but this was the first time I have really gone out touring all myself in a city I don't know.

When my taxi arrived, the driver was so kind to me!  I told him that I was touring around and he told me places that I had to go and on what kind of a day.  I got insight into the city and a great idea of more things to do from someone who actually knows Liverpool.  He dropped me off at the Maritime Museum on Albert Dock.  It was freezing and windy but I was already so proud of myself for getting out and touring on my own.  Sounds lame, but I don't care.

Now the docks are an interesting place to visit for sure!  There is so much history and you can't really see it unless you look for it because of how modern everything is now.  I walked out and there were awesome ships docked and the lighting was amazing!  The cloud cover makes for wonderful soft lighting.  Sadly, it was very cold so I didn't really walk around too much.  That's to come soon!  Here's some shots of the ships and the Maritime Museum, which I thought were really cool.

My attraction to the Maritime Museum was the Titanic exhibits they had on display.  Since I've never really been interested in a lot of boating/ shipping industry history.  I saw a pamphlet for the Titanic exhibit in the World Museum about the Titanic and it's links to Liverpool.  When I went into the museum, the front desk attendant was so wonderful to chat with.  He was just such a lovely old chap who loved to talk about photography.  It was so nice to meet him!  He gave me a map of downtown Liverpool and told me some of the more exciting things to see inside the museum.  The first Titanic exhibit was about the three devastating shipwrecks that all happened within 3 years.  The Empress, Lusitania, and the Titanic.  There were amazing artifacts an scale models of the ships that had great amounts of detail. I heard first hand accounts via recordings of the disasters and saw such sad pictures.  I know this is sad, but when I think of Liverpool I think of the Beatles, not shipping.  I had no idea that shipping was such a huge thing for Liverpool.  The scale models of the ships were so intense and the ratio blew me away.  At least in the first one, the ratio is 1cm to every 0.5 m.  Crazy!  I've included my photo documentation of the exhibits. It'll probably be more interesting for you all to see what I saw then to try and get an image of it through my attempts at description.

The above picture is an actual life buoy from the Lusitania.

There was a pat of the exhibit that was the German's influence over Britain though war.  The following are some interesting things I found on display.

Towards the end of my visit I got to the second Titanic exhibit.  I was really sad to see the list of all the Titanic passengers in blue and brown.  The blue names survived and the brown did not.  Seeing the color difference between the ticket classes was absolutely astonishing.

Now interestingly, the top of the Maritime museum was the International Slavery Museum.  I went in for a look around and honestly didn't learn too much.  But that's because I already knew a healthy amount on the subject.  There were however so beautifully crafted clothes and weapons that wee also a bit frightening.

Obviously I did more this week than go to the museum, but this blog is way too long as it is.  I explored other museums and took a lot more pictures.  I'm sure I'll update you all soon when my blog isn't quite as long.  Hopefully they won't be as far spread out, but if they are it just means I'm having a ton of fun!  More later.
Love and Pixels,
Kaylen