Home safe and sound!

fww, guys.
that was a LONG ASS DAY.

i think total traveling time (including layovers and car time) came out to over 24 hours >_o

(how do i know?
I woke up at 8:30 PM pacific, and the plane landed in sacramento at 10:05 pacific the next day)

got around four/five hours of sleep in there during that time... so it wasn't all bad.

but still D:

ANYWAY, so.

wake up at 4:30 or so, shower, say goodbye to pat and we're on our way to london from cardiff.
We get to the airport three hours early, which turns out to be a good thing, since we're easily confusable. . . . check in, check our bags (which requires us going through a mini-border.... and we totally predicted which guy we'd be talking to)

And then it's through security (which was a minihassle because kriz accidentally grabbed both of the london-jfk tickets, leaving me with ONLY the jfk-sacramento tickets. . . and he likes to leave immediately after he's done his thing, which means we have to yell at him to get him back over to us for ticket trading purposes. :C

mm, security itself is no big thing. . . and then it's waiting around for an hour and a half or so until our plane boards. . .which is a pain just because apparently london doesn't know what gate things are at until the planes have been at a gate for half an hour.

eh... anyway, we start heading toward the gate where we do that thing where we have to show the people at the desk our boarding passes. . .

and then they pull me aside for additional security screening O-o
I get the impression that my name was on a list of people they had ready BEFOREhand, just by the way it all went down.

They were pretty cool about it. . .(spent the first minute or so trying to get my baseball cap onto my dragon plush so that a: he wouldn't fall down and b: he'd be able to see) but it did get fairly awkward just because there was a pat-down, and then they decided that they'd be swabbing all of my electronics. . . which wouldn't have taken as long if the only available swab-testing machine wasn't ten gates away. >_o

bah well.

anyway, so onto the plane and i did that thing where i forgot something again. . .

and this time it was my backpack D:
so i run back out and then back in. . . .

and Zach starts getting pissy because the plane is filling up and we're seated in a full five-person middle area. (but we're on the end, so i don't see what the problem is.)
There ends up being this REALLY nice set of british people sitting behind us (like, amazing. it's. . . two women and then one of their kids... who wants to sit next to the window but not next to his chaperons) . . . but yeah. loved the hell ouit of them...

and once the plane takes off there's plenty to do, given there's free pseudo-videogames, movies, and a coupla shows and such. . .

plus two meals. . .

we watched Iron man 2. . . again, and part of Shrek 4, an episode of CSI, and an episode of bones. . . and between those things and a nap, the flight went very quickly.

anyway.. then we deplane and go through the border again. (and i swear to god, if every single trip to the border entails a LONG ASS WALK from the terminal, i will laugh/cry.)
...

anyway, this time... we had a little more fun, because JFK wasn't under construction (like heathrow is) so they had up these TV things trying to sell the U.S. to people who were already coming in anyway. (which was especially funny considering everybody in this particular line. . . ALREADY LIVES THERE)
it was the single most pompous, self-absorbed thing i have ever heard, and i hope everyone else who lives here gets to hear it someday so that they can laugh.

. . .

anyway, so that goes by smoothly enough, and then we have to wait to pick up our bags. . . and then finish going through customs. . . and then make a left (LEFT KRIZZLE, NOT STRAIGHT READ THE DAMNED SIGNS) to re-check our bags. (there's a kiosk made just for it)
and then. . .

back through security.

the people there were extremely helpful getting us through quickly, too. (oh shit, your plane boards at 4? go into that line!) but the other passengers, not so much.

there was one couple who, like. . . squeezed in front of us in line somehow and needed like a bazillion buckets for their shit. . .

and then the woman forgot to take off her necklaces.

nuh-uh. no way you're getting through the metal detector still wearing all your bling, honey.
NO.
WAY.

. . . anyway, so then we dart through to our gate (which we knew because thankfully american airlines tells you these things even though your boarding passes don't) and sit to wait for a bit. . . during which many phone calls are had.

and then.. ONTO THE PLANE.

which ends up leaving like half an hour late because of DUMB (i mean, uh, construction)
and in the end results in
"if you are on the continuation of this flight to sacramento, you will have to deplane and go to gate C28"
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf

now.
we landed in terminal A.
Terminal C.
that's two terminals over.

MONORAIL TIME.

we made it JUST IN TIME, too, holy fuckin' shit.

and in the end our flight actually landed five minutes early..
which doesn't mean anything because apparently nobody knows how to open the airplane doors. (in both the dallas and sacramento landings, like half the plane was up and ready to move,but NOBODY WAS MOVING, and it wasn't because of one fucker taking up space, i think)

... so, anyway, we get confused for a moment because our plane docked in the alaska/horizon/jetblu/continental side of terminal B, instead of the American (and whatever else is there) side of terminal B.
. . .

so we had to walk extra far to find our baggage. >>

and we get outside to find out that Mom's gonna be a bit late picking us up because there's apparently some sort of god-knows-what on I5 and everyone has to stop going northbound because OH NO THERE'S A FLARE ON THE ROAD ARGH.

but yeah.

and then we got home.
and slept.

BORING ZOO IS BORING

ARGH HEADACHE.

... wait.

that's the end of the day.

I SHOULD TELL YOU THIS STORY FROM THE BEGINNING.

Wake up at eight, shower, wake up kriz, he showers, and then WE DRIVE
about an hour and a half
to get to Bristol.
to go to the zoo.

ZOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyway, so we meet up all in front of the train station (which, i swear to god, seems to contain some sort of portal that takes you to a place where train tracks are, because i never SEE any trains or tracks ANYWHERE except in stations)-

um, anyway, so while we're waiting for the last few people, sae and I head down into the station to search out a Cash machine. . .i pull out my last ten quid and he pulls out a bit more, including a ten to get kriz into the zoo...

with my fifteen i can get kriz and I bus tickets, and with the ten i can get myself into the zoo (which is usually 13 or so a person, but is 9 if you're in a group of ten or more)

mmm..... and kriz is being mopey, so i buy him an ice cream. which he proceeds to not eat for awhile. D:

ah, after that we establish a time to meet back up (which everybody except for the guy who set the time could have sworn was 4.00 PM, so i think he's just making shit up ;3)

and then..

we split up.

since kriz is being mopey and sae's taking pictures, i end up by myself, walk around the zoo once or twice, then find kriz in the bug rooms, where he's starting to perk up a bit.. kind of.

then it's around the zoo again, including through the butterfly room, and back to the food court where we find the rest of the furries...

after a bit of dawdling there, we go to lead Sae to the Meerkats.

As i recall, some people followed us, and kriz starts to send fish into a tizzy by dropping things into the water (will have video for that if/when i can cut it down, because of course they stopped responding once i turned the camera on)
... but anyway, that ensued in great lols.

and then.. halfway to the meerkats...

RAIN OCCURS.
ARGH.

kriz runs out of it, sae runs to catch up with kriz, and i just keep walking at my normal speed-

they see me come around the bend sopping wet and kriz goes "Oh fuck that"

so we sit underneath the trees for a bit before i realise that we're right next to the place where we can clock our running speeds..

my fastest so far is 22.1 mph~ kriz i think hit 30.8 but usually hovered around 25 or so.
i would have killed for a bit more room to work up to speed, but still~

anyway, still fucking raining we try to find the other furries again, and we do...
huddled under an umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh)
myself and one other stand out in the rain, though (cuz we're hardcore) and we get to talking about theme parks and the like, and what's open when and in what weather can one be expected to find people there...

and then the rain lets up just enough that we can head back to the giant tarp that covers the food place.
after a while there (during which time we talk mostly about snow) we head back out to the meerkats again, then around to the parts of the zoo we haven't seen yet. . .

some of which (like the "trash" exhibit) are extremely frightening.
(also by this time kriz has been a bit more cheerful for some time.. since a little before the fish incident)

so after we run through the zoo again, we head to the original meeting point to wait until it's time to go, during which we discover the gift shop and dick about (BUG EYES PLUSHIES ARGH)

mmm, and spend the rest of the time waiting for the hat-man to get back so we can leave. . .

and we leave just in time to wait for the bus.

so to pass the bus-waiting time, kriz gets an ice cream, and i get two twisters.
which are made of POPSICLEGASM.

>>

mm, yes.

then it's on the bus back to the station, and then from the station to the Knights Templar Pub, at which point there is much eating and conversation.

and i start to develop a headache due to too much crackage of the neck-bones.
D:


also that was the single most boring zoo i have ever been to, which is saying something, as all zoos are pretty boring.

anywho, tomorrow we will be sleeping in most of the time, and on monday we'll be getting up at four to head back to london for our flight home :3

CASTELLS EVERYWHERE

ALRIGHT GUYS.

Today we went to see. . .

CASTLES!

yep/
finally some good old fashioned castles-
we've been here how long?
and how long did it take us to go see a castle?!


Anyway, first up was Caerphilly..

got quite a few pictures here and was my favorite of the two. . .

a lot of it was still intact, and hasn't been "renovateD" per se except to put in some electricity and fire points and the like...

jus.t
-holy wow-

had an excellent view of welsh countryside, too. . .

and a shitton of stairs and some GREAT places to climb all over...

also a ballista.

and then to Castell Coch, which i guess is a site for filming fairly often that..

frankly did end up feeling very set-like...

i dunno, something about it just rubbed me all the wrong way. it has been rebuilt and renovated by.. someone who i think didn't do his research too well O-o

eh..

anyway, during the course of this one we lost Krizzle twice, and one of those times i guess he also fell asleep O-o


ff.

so back home and then later, dinner, because kriz and I wanted to say thank you for all the Salaman family's done for putting us up ^_^

We ended up eating out at this... strangely fancy chinese place. . . which i think qualifies as my first time eating proper chinese food-

but holy shit man.
85 pound for the five of us to eat @_@

edit: Have some pictures, guys

UNCE UNCE UNCE

WHOAH.

hah, alright...

um.
headed into town today.

BUT ALAS
NO EXACT CHANGE.

we need six pound for the two of us, and i've got...

three tens and then a one pound coin....

O-o

So... i go downstairs to ask pat if she's got two fives i can exchange for one of my tens..

she doesn't, but as it happens, john has eight pound in coins, and Pat has one in change.

she says they might need to owe us one, if they can't find another pound, i say it's fine, because after all they ARE letting us stay in their house!

but pat objects and proceeds to find the rest of the change...

she finds fourty in change, and the other sixty pence?

All in one and two pence coins.

it was quite the sight ;3 and she kept recounting, and i kept telling her it was fine, and she kept objecting D:


anyway... so onto the bus and into town, where we promptly eat mcdonalds (WHOAH) here we discover that i can do this very well:

From UK 2010

and then it's time to find a cafe to sit and kill time at... which we do, but not before somehow completely missing the Queen's Arcade and ending up passing it.

t'was worth it though, because Kriz stopped and gave this girl playing the accordion like.. all of our pennies. (so sixty cents) which was either very kind or extremely rude.

either way, the face she made when she saw him drop it in was priceless.
she was like.
WHOAH!
her entire face went round, it was awesome.
i swear to god she was only like ten, though.
and Asian.
stereotypes much?

>>

so, we find our way into the arcade and then the safe, and proceed to kill the next, like.. six hours doing.. nothing, i guess?
oh wait.
we did this.

From UK 2010

and when we're done with that, we head back over to the castle to catch our bus back home....

and on the bus back home is like.
the best little kid ever.
he was looking over my shoulder while i was Professor Laytoning on Kriz's DSiXL, and sits down across from us when i finished, trying (very obviously) to get a good look at my glasses.
I hand them to him (with the warning of "be Careful," of course) and he trips out a bit before handing them back- as i put them back on, he comments "whoah your eyes are big."
"yup"
then he points out a school that his friend goes to, but, because he's so quiet, i hear it as "i go there" and we both get confused for a moment before he clears it up, explaining that he's only in grade three (i believe he said, it was difficult to hear him because buses are loud and he was quiet) and he continues on to explain the Welsh School System to us until such time as he gets to his stop.

:3

i got schooled on school by a third grader.

AWESOME.

oh.

we get home in time for dinner, more or less, and John comes in beforehand assign us if we need any more light-
"Nah, we have natural light"
"ah. I'll leave the sun on for you, then."
"Thanks =D we'll turn it off before we go to bed."

Torchwood Tower

i saw it ;3

AND YOU DIDN'T D
or maybe you did.

i dunno.

Anyway, bussed into town, ate some mcdonalds because it's cheap and easy to find......

then bussed again from the centre to the bay part of Cardiff and walked for awhile-

and we found, guys.
an ICE CREAM TRUCK.
FUCK YES.
THREE TWISTERS.
FUCKS YES.

and then what is probably an awesome playground.
that we promptly took pictures of.

um.

and the seagulls wouldn't stop staring at us D:

staarriinnggggg. *gulp*

um.
then back to the city centre to pick up some souvenirs for people :3

yeah.

exciting day, i know >>

Edit: has some pictures :3
ALSO HAVE SOME PICTURES

Nothing of which to speak

today and yesterday, by themselves, are more or less uneventful, but, together, are almost worth making a blog post about. . . So...

Yesterday....
we went to go see Toy Story 3.
again.
yeah.
we saw it shortly after it came out, then, again, saw it while in Wales....

Also, at the theatre, they had a Ben and Jerry's.

I didn't even know ben and Jerry's had frikkin' STORES!!

there's also some B&J's vending machines around. Which is amazing.

ah.. and today played hours of Uno with pat, and then a few rounds also with Sae once he got home.

and..

.. yeah, that's it >>

I was coerced into going outside D:

D:

and dinner was at two in the afternoon.

and AMISH PEOPLE DO NOT LIVE IN CASTLES.

also when i get them, i'll be posting pictures in the appropriate blogs that they belong in. I'm about to put in a fuzzy picture of a sketch i made up for yesterday.

but..... in case you wanted an actual post today..
um.

go here > http://arthopping.blogspot.com/2010/08/in-no-particular-order.html

AHM DRUNK!

FURRIIEEZZZZ.

Sae wakes us up at... uh. Nine.. thirty, i think?
Showers and dressed, then it's down to the bus stop, where two busses do not make it (on eon either side of the road) and everyone nearly gets hit by a car at least once.

h.. bus speeds off (and we don't fall down while walking to the back when it speeds off) to take us tp. . .
THE TRAIN STATION, BAHDAH!
where the rest of te furries are.

after some general conversation (centering mostly around Team Fortress 2, as most furry conversation seem to) we start walking toward the bay, to go to an actual Arcade (like, with games)

the walk there is fairly uneventful, though on the longish side... and of course everyone immediately goes to DDR (again, because they're furries)
Sae and I, though, proceed to play a game of Rape Sonic Air Hockey
and sae KICKED MY ASS (darn dragon) >>

mm, then it's into the bar for drinks.. and we promptly lose half of our group.

A meerkat recommends a cinema, which is turned down due to ARGH THE PRICEEE D<

and then we walk alll the way back to the city center and Saint David's Arcade....(and on the way pass a sign advertising brain beer) where Sae stops to look at phones... and then eventually we all get to the Icon, which is the pub where the cardiff furs spend a good portion of most of their meets...
chatting and such occurs, and noms are had (potato wedges! <3!) and drinks are poured (pepsi for a quid, as opposed to 4.55 at the first place)....
we go upstairs and much fun is had in the talking sense..... then somehow everyone LEAVES US NOOOOOO and.... that culminates in us.. all being downstairs again..
with krizzle telling jokes.
more pepsi.
rum in my pepsi.

holy shit.
i keep forgetting how much i hate the taste of alcohol. I'm nearly gagging just thinking about it.
but i got another pepsi so .. managed to wipe out the taste.

after that i pretty much couldn't manage stairs for the rest of the day.

mm, ice cream... back to the bar... then back to the bus and home.

and i have a headache and i feel like i'm gonna throw up, and am EXTREMELY HUNGRY, but am otherwise in a good mood.

edit: PICTUREZ

Faggots: They Do a Body Good!

today. . .

BIG.
PIT.

COAL MINES
FESKS YES.

anyway..
we get there and none of the three of us have eaten yet, so after getting our passes to go underground, we head. . .

All the way up the hill to the canteen.
ALL
THE WAY
UP
THE HILL.

where kriz promptly gets two kit-kat bars (HUGE ONES) and... then we go into the canteen...
where.
LASAGNA.
SAUSAGES.
FAGGOTS.
CHIPS.
erm.
FRIES.

and the flattest coke ever to come out of a tap O-o
with no ice.

.. anyway.

kriz WAS going to get mozzarella sticks, but turns out they're chicken fingers, so he got lasagna with his sausages and chips. (FATTIE)
which meant that i stole the last piece of lasagna from the little girl behind me D:
s'okay though.
they thought i was in that group at first, anyway, and nearly skipped me in line D:

I still feel bad, though D:

ahm.
anyway, so...
noms.
Salted noms.

also.
if it tastes good, it's not good for you.
unless it's faggots.

mm, anyway, back DOWN THE HILL
(ALL THE WAY DOWN THE HILL)
to the line you get to wait in for mining purposes.

bench.
move.
bench.
move.
bench.
hand man in coveralls the underground ticket.

krizzle has a fat head.

he had to get a SPECIAL HARD HAT for his FAT HEAD.

>>

then.. they gave us lights. heavy lights.
and mine cannot be turned on or off except by the tour guide. (SHUT UP KRIZZLE YOU ONLY DID IT ONCE)

anyway, so into the tunnels.
they are amazing.
and cold.
and technically still open shafts so we can't have any dry cell batteries in there.

D:

no photooosss D: sorry guys.

anyway.
seriously.
fucking loved the mines.
nobody else did, because YOU'RE TALL HAHAH MAKE FUN OF ME FOR BEING SHORT NOW WHYDONCHA.

umm...
i'd detail what i learned but that's not really any fun.
suffice to say i frikkin' LOVED it down there, though... just. wow.
<3

mm.. then it's back up and home...........

and an hour or two later we're off again to dinner at a local italian place where pat and John know the owners...
and guys.
the parking lot?
was like.
EXACTLY like the one at Spuds. (in seattle)
it was amazing.

anywho, then into the restaurant, where we were introduced to two of the ladies working there...
Both of whom had very strong handshakes, thank god! (i fucking HATE wimpy handshakes. they make a horribly impression on me D<)

and guys.
in that restaurant, they call pepperoni pizza....
Americano.
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
GUYS WTF.

it made me giggle a bit.
also.
had lemonade.
which was really more like sprite.
8D
BECAUSE THIS IS THE UK DARNIT!

yeah.
and then back home :3

also, Sae's camera uses a different cord than mom's does to transfer photos, so still no luck getting them off the camera.

edit: several months later, here are the pictures

RHUBARB=/=CABBAGE

Today... it's off to Saint Fagans (yes, you read that right) for a walk-
Pat drops us off and says to call when we're done.

So, first order of business..

food.

We go into the cafe, and start searching their sandwich collection when the man behind the counter tells us that, if we're looking for food, there's a restaurant upstairs.

As we're making our way upstairs, i hear one of his coworkers ask-
"are you trying to give all our business to the restaurant?"
to which he replies-
"no, but they were hungry!"

So, upstairs.
the restaurant name, in english, is Vale Restaurant... and in welsh is Bwyty'r Fro...
so now we're affectionately calling it the Binty's 'Fro.
(kriz's fursona is a Binturong, Binty for short, and Bwyry'r kind of.. reminded me of that, and Fro. Well.
'fro.)
Anyway....
into the restaurant is a half-self serve, half assisted service sort of thing, where the only tables left are children's tables D: and it is otherwise full of old people D:

All the soda is the same price, but for some reason Pepsi only comes in 500ml bottles, whereas everything else (including diet pepsi) comes in 600ml bottles...
we both refuse to drink diet pepsi, and at one pound 25, the extra hundred millilitres is worth it, so we both instead get 7-up.

(also i just found out that the name of the museum in Cardiff is, fittingly, National Museum Cardiff, and the roman museum is National Roman legion museum)

.. anyway, we get 7-Up and then go to the meal bit, where we're kindly offered a tray by someone else in line, and then have to figure out what we want in terms of foods. Kriz gets two sausages (surprise surprise) with chips (re: fries) and i get a chicken-salad-mayo burger on what looks like the single most amazing bun in the world.

order... eat.

burger is.. alright. but there's so much lettuce i'm literally gagging..
so halfway through i take the rest out, and nom.
GOO`D.
NOMS.
YES.

ah.. then it's up to get more fries...
and i put a brownie on mine.
and for 2.50 that brownie was not worth it.
but the fries were.

mmm, then it's into the agricultural display, which, of all the things we saw, is i think what i took the most pictures of-
love looking at old tools and all that sort of thing~

and then into the wardrobe area, which would have been more fun if there was just a SMIDGE more light-
it was soooo hard to see most anything in there, and no flash photography allowed (bad for the cloth) so you only get to see the only, like.. five things that were in decent light....
then.. some general stuff-
Love spoons, harps, dragons, guitars..

mm, then it's out to the main part of the museum-
OUTSIDE.

we make a left to go see the chapel instead of a right to see the castle, to try to avoid the crowds... pretty enough, i think.. then it's down through a bunch of old houses and that sort of thing..
we make a right.
and on a sign there is the taxes for traveling along that house (i guess it was a gate back in the day) and then a VERY LONG PARAGRAPH (which i attempted to read aloud, much to kriz's dismay) that laid out all the things you were tax exempt for...
and kriz dragged me away saying "I GET IT D<" also. there was a man who does not know the difference between cabbage and rhubarb. "is this wild rhubarb?" he then pokes it with his stick and goes "no, maybe cabbage" for those who do not know, this is rhubarb (it doesn't grow in the wild, though the grounds do maintain little gardens that are appropriate to the time periods of the houses):
this is cabbage:

and then.
we saw our first sheep.
we've been in wales for two weeks now, just saw our first sheep that's actually in wales- the first one we saw was in bloody England D<

ehm... anyway. so i go to take a picture, kriz says NO. WE ARE GOING THIS WAY.
so we do.
he goes up a trail a bit and i hang behind (because my trail was better even if it did only lead to the actual trail where the kids were and a kiosk ALL ABOUT BIRDS) and took a picture of the fuckin' sheep.

kriz comes back down, whistles at me, and we both go up his trail...
trail ends, we make a right, trail ends in a CLEARING RAWRGH and we can't get out..
so we go back into the forest...
go back to the clearing to get to the actual trail...
cannot find the first trail from the second trail..
and eventually end up in entirely the wrong place via a small road cut in by a vehicle of some kind....

mmm, down that road, we then follow the sound of screaming children back to the actual museum land, and get to watch a water wheel.

and then.
ICE CREAM.

we end up back near the tax house and find the ice cream booth, which is adorned with perhaps the most frightening cow ever drawn, but which contains equally delicious ice cream which you cannot have because you are not at Saint fagans :3

also, on the way to the ice cream, we see pigs, which are not sheep.

ahm.. after this, i believe we actually go up to the castle itself, which is quite prettyful and overall very well maintained..
i personally rather like the water feature out in front of it- and the gardens are..
stunning, really .i got some fun pictures of the walls, too... (the walkways where people stand for defending purposes, you know? they've been overgrown with weeds, but still look -really- cool)
mmm, yes.
and then we go through the house part of the castle, which is complete with a spiral staircase and a SPOTLESS KITCHEN. the rest of the house is sort of dank and dark but damn, that kitchen O-o
outside again to a mini shop-town-thing which is quite fun to look at.. then it's back down to the museum proper, call up John to be picked up..
"Hello?"
"Hey- it's Kyla."
"Ah, yes, what can i do for you then?"
which amused me for some reason.

mmmmm then we wait.

Toilets are labeled as Tai Bach in welsh, btw (as i recall) and "out" is Allan. (Allan is seen most frequently in exit signs, as in Britain they put Way Out instead of Exit, usually, but i cannot remember the word that more or less means way)

mmm, then PEPSI and then waiting.
get back to the house to discover that the internet is back on (whoooooooo) and then dinner of chicken and RICE OMFG RICE.

hahahh~

we (or kriz, i guess) offer to do dishes, at which point pat sort of lights up ;3
and then kriz discovers my random ocd for clean dishes (if i am doing the dishes, they must be clean, but if i'm cleaning one dish, who the hell cares)

hhnyep, and then ... here we are :3

Edit: here's the pictures

ROMANNZZZZ

Solved a puzzle (kind of) with pat (sae's gran) this morning...

Had a brunch of ..
John (Sae's grandpa) called it a "Toastie"-
i believe "toasted cheese sandwich" would be the right phrasing-
of mature cheddar.
interesting, definitely, also definitely good...

dropped John off at the hospital (where he volunteers, and used to work) and then went to see some of the roman remains just outside of Cardiff. . .

Went to the bath house first, which was amusing if for absolutely no reason other than the fact that, where the bath used to be, they were projecting fake water and some video of poeple swimming.. and some text that was usually squiggly or in circles or upside down, and thus difficult to read >>

hm, got to touch and see a lot of artifacts and artifact recreations (mostly cleaning items) which was rather neat...

walked along, and ended up playing a quiz game in Welsh (which kriz one by sheer luck alone) which was great fun just because of the fact we didn't understand a damn thing...

go back out and into the car, and we went to go see the remains of the Ampitheatre the romans had built-
which was, in a word..
AMAZING.
just....wow.
quiet, calm....
would have been excellent to picnic there, truly....
great for climbing and running and jumping and, just..
amazing.
Would love to go back, definitely....

and after was across the street to where the foundation of the legion barracks were still intact, and got a good giggle out of a kid who was complaining that she didn't get to spend her money (because she was being a whiny little bitch ;3)
a
also a nice giggle out of the fact that the drainage system for the toilets passed RIGHT next to one of the barracks. >>

Ah, walked back up to the museum proper, to look around. Have some charred human bone bits and the like, lots of old gravestones-
and among my personal favorite, quite a few old style keys.

in the back's a recreation of am army barracks, and some kids games...
one of which was two "toilets" filled with balls of various shades (mostly blue) and you had to find ten fake mice in there.
um.
no thank you.
it smells like an actual toilet in this hall, why would i stick my hand into a fake toilet ?!

and then it's out into the gardens.
and all you need to know about the gardens?
severed leg+severed hand+chives=dinner.

hmhm, last thing we did out with pat today was go down to the FFwrwm (i think it's more or less pronounced Forum) to catch a drink and view some of the art, which, overall, was either AWESOME or FRIGHTENING.(art is like that)

edit: Pictures from today

City Center 2.0

WOke up around sixish today, on account of leaving the curtains open last night, and that's about when the sun is up full blast-
actually got OUT of bed closer to ten, though, showered...
chatted with Sae's grantparents (during which time we more or less plan the day.)-
Grandpa shows me a map of cardiff- and on the first page it shows it as a whole, complete with the channel that has england on the other side of it-
"So I suppose if i end up here" (gesturing to england) "then there's something wrong."
to which he replies-
"yes, if you somehow end up over there, i think you'd better call us."

amusement abounds ;3

anyway, then it's off to Cardiff Centre for a few hours.

We visit the museum (the one that's closed on mondays) and..
it's kind of boring, really O-o
i REALLY liked some of the landscape/cityscape art, but otherwise.... pottery is only so exciting. (loved the organ pipes, but didn't get a picture of them.)

ah... yeah, so left there, and went to go search the shops a bit, because kriz has decided we must get MOAR DRAGONS.

shop one does not have them
D:
shop two does.
one dragon aquired.

we go eat, and muse that no subway should EVER have a view of a real castle.
ever.

ah, we go back into the QUeen's Arcade and nom on some ICE CREAMS, then wander a bit farther into the city centre...
talk to some sort of self-proclaimed monk...
visit an arts and crafts fair thing that's got like, three booths along one of the footpaths, which is just silly...
then it's back to the bus.

BUSSSSS.

we bus for awhile, then get off at way the wrong stop.
start walking back to Sae's house...
end up BACKTRACKING.. really, really badly....
quite the adventure, really.
(also, humped zebra crossing right next to a Church of Latter Day Saints)

get back home, chat, eat, dessert....
have a geat, LONG, FUNNY AS HELL conversation with sae, kriz, and Sae's gran, during which we cover a wide variety of topics and a great many observations aremade... excellent time, i think...

and after that...
crude gestures with the assistance of stuffed animals, of course.
what else are we supposed to do with all those dragons?

Edit: Pictures from today

And back in Cardiff....

have been for maybe six hours, too.

Anyway, got up, showered, packed and all that shit-
then go THE HELL OUTTA DODGE.
no more muggy hotel room for us, aww yeah.
went down to the lobby to check out and grab some drinks..
and apparently kriz is the only one who can work anything you need to insert coins into.
(also, last night he totally got the LAST COKE from one of the machines.
bitch.)

Anyway.. checked out, had like an hour to spare, so we head to Mickey Ds (AGAIN) to ... eat.
nomnomnom.

mmmmm. there was a chair there with caution tape on it, and i sorely wish i had taken a picture.

Start to head to the Fulham Broadway underground station again, stop at a post office to change the euros we had to pounds. (20 euros = 14 or so pounds, apparently)
took a picture of a sign in the window, said "please take your crash helmet off before entering" which amused the hell outta me...
continue to station....
traintraintrain....
walkwalk
waitwait
traintraintraintrain

TRAIN.
back to cardiff.

noms were acquired and bathrooms were used (but they did not want to flush)

get back to cardiff and Sae's Gran picks us up, and then it's the drive back-
past and through some fairly neat things, like a street that i guess used to be covered in doctors.

and.. failed internet... and then dinner.
it was stew.
omnom.
and rhubarb+sugar+ice cream for dessert.
NOM.

and then we go to wal+mart
I MEAN
Asda to see if we can find a modem because . . . theirs is dying and we kind of want to get on the ball doing something nice for them since they're putting us up for THREE WEEKS RAWRGH.

anyway, we dick about there for awhile and krizzle buys pringles because he's awesome like that.
and then.
we go upstairs.
using
a RAMP.
like.
escalator meets people mover
it is amazing.
AMAZING, I SAY.

uh.
krizzle hits on a mannequin...

Star Wars Shirt..
I FOUND THE LIFT.

I FOUND THE MCDONALDS
everybody else: NO!
yes, yes, i know, i'm just saying, there's one there >>

mmm.

yeah.
anyway that's about it O-o

In Jokes SO Far:
1: SINK!
2: Cacaw
3: FUCK THE QUEEN

edit: pictures from today

London Day Three

WOke up in the travelodge, delightfully cool (doesn't get cool till about four in the morning, swear to bob, and even then ONLY if you have a fan running)-
showered, woke up kriz... before noon, magically-
who then also showered...

got (gasp) McDonalds so that we wouldn't be starting the day on an empty stomach, then down into the tube again- alll the way down the line to Tower Hill, where...
we walked.

past Big ben and the giant fucking Ferris Wheel (that does not move) and all the fairly awesome various Architecture and FUCKING LAMPPOSTS (they're awesome. stfu) and memorials and whatnot, including some thigns that are for some reason in London instead of Egypt.
because in Egypt they would at least still be intact. (acid rain likes to kill shit.)

.. all the while narrowly avoiding tour groups (ARGH NOT THE TOUR GROUPS)

Also.
I'm fairly certain the sewers in London are cleaner than the Thames is. (Just Sayin')

Ehh.. walkwalkwalk... we veer off our original path at some point (there was a bridge in the way, I think) and head past. . . .

The London Church of Scientology.
SCIENTOLOGY.
it's like.. right next to the giant motherfucking cathedral. Which makes it funnier.

Anyway, we go around the (St. james?) Cathedral, just onto the grounds, since it's stupidly expensive to get in and they probably dont allow photography anyway...

ah, back toward the Thames, and we cross the Millenium Bridge (fuunnnn~) and end up at the Globe Theatre (whooo) there they're just about to begin a showing... and we nom some ice creams and water on the steps.
Go to get some more water and..
woman falls down the stairs D:
got a nasty bleed/bruise thing on her hand, too, and kriz jumped right hte fuck up to help her... a few people did, actually. One man went up to the ice cream truck to see if there was anything cold to put on her hand, another woman provided some napkins to help.. and kriz offered to pay for the drink that was provided in place of some ice (some how the ice cream truck didn't have any ice) but they politely declined, saying there was no way they could do that-

a rep comes down from the Globe and offerd to help the lady up to the theatre, to which she replies (in good humour) "back up there?"

... didn't get any photos of the Globe, though, which is a shame, because i HAD meant to.

hmhmhm, some walking and a right later, we found ourselves in an older part of london... which was amazing inand of itself, because.. it looks more like what yout hink of when you think of london, instead of the british New York that the rest of it strikes me as-

the first thing we found in London Proper (or so we call it) was..
The Clink-
a private museum in what was once an actual prison...
we probably would have passed it by, but the guy pretendign to be a guard out front was absolutely brilliant ad sold it to us nearly immediately, so at 3.50 or so a pop, we went in and dawdled along it...
bit difficult to read some of the plaques and such, but found out an amazing amount of htings- like that that whole section of london ahs upwards of FIVE prisons, once, and that at one point "Fiddling" was illegal (because it was annoying, i guess?) and that later fiddling was synonymous with panhandling in general-

and we got to play with some ball&chain type devices and.. just overall it was a great time..

Left and went to look for the guy out front to tlak to him again, saw his coat on a short post so i claimed He Shrunk- then he pops out from behind a sign chiding me for being clever >>
anyway, he was cleanin' up (some fat kid knocked over the box with the pamphlets- so he pointed his fake sword at him and the kid got the fuck outta there)...
anywho, kriz snapped a picture of him and we went on our way....

got some more photos of the architecture and found a SHINY TUNNEL (hooray) and then it's through the Queen's Walk toward the Tower bridge...

A Jazz band was playing Live along the walk, too, which was amazing~ (seriously)....

across the bridge and back down to the tube and then on to the hotel..

and then we watched The Hunchback of Notre dame.

HOORAY.

edit: 11/3/2010
Pictures from today