Oktoberfest 2009

Oktoberfest was hysterically amazing. Despite being a quick trip i had propbably one of the most hysterical times ever. i was lucky enough to meet up with one of my oldest friends, Jenny and a fantastic group of her friends and a new friend, Franz the Gnome.

We handled Munich on all levels. We did a bit of the touristy stuff, met some amazing peeps and of course hit the tents. I however was adament about NOT wearing a costume, but to be fair, i wish i bought one. next time i go, i HIGLY suggest that the boys wear leiderhosen and the girls dress up as bar maids... sure, you feel a bit out of place walking though town, but once in the tents, you feel more out of place NOT wearing them.

Also, we rented an apt. for the long weekend. we were a few stops away on the U-Bahn. I highly suggest doing that, as it is easier and cheaper in the long run.

Now.. let me introduce you to Franz... he is a sneaky little Gnome that likes to get into trouble, so watch out!

Hope you are all well... Stay tune for video feed! and be nice, as i am new to this!! :-)

rach

My Adventures Thus Far

hey everyone...

so i finally have a bit of time to update you on what has been going on...

my travels here have been amazing... whether here in London or internationally. i have been blessed enough to see parts of the world that i never would have imagined getting to see!!

Most recently, i went to St. Vlas, Sunny Beach & Nessebar in BULGARIA! It is located right on The Black Sea. and it was amazing. One of my oldest and best friends, Kelly, joined me for the trip. we had an amazing time. It was beautiful and hot... and even more amazing, my friend Dave, from London, has an apartment there, so we had place to stay, for FREE!! (thank you Dave!) - - oh.. and by the way, Dave's apartment was in a VILLA!! 8 pools 3 restaurants, private beach! AMAZING!!

The pottery in Bulgaria is handmade and everything there was super cheap, as the Leva / Pound ratio is 2:1 and the Leva/USD was 1.4:1... so me and Kelly made out like bandits! :-) i think Kelly made out more, as she shopped til she dropped! :-) i

The Black Sea was clear and amazing... but the funniest part about that whole area is that it is super safe, because the Denevi Brothers (the mob) run it... which i know sounds completely insane.. but its true... they love the $$ from the tourism that it is really safe!

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I took the month of August to explore the some of the best nook and crannies of the UK, relatively near to London. Windsor Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Brighton Beach, & Southend.

Windsor Castle - was really cool... the landscape is picturesque. And apparently, the Queen stays there from time to time.. and also, apparently, the first car from London drove through Windsor at 5mph. and the funny thing was - people from Windsor never saw a car before, so a boy had to run in front of the car with a red flag, so people would know it was coming! HYSTERICAL!
Stratford-Upon-Avon is where Shakespeare is born and raised and died. it is quite a quaint little town.
Brighton Beach - Is amazing!!! This beach has the feel of the combinations of the Santa Monica Pier and Coney Island all rolled into one.. it is beautiful with an "old" feel to it.. the only thing that is annoying about the beach is the sand.. or lack there off Brighton Beach consists of a "rock/pebble" beach... not very nice on your feet!
Southend - now this is an interesting town.. it is a fisherman's town. and i don't think it is up to date on alot of things, and that includes the mindset of the people there... granted, not everyone.. but yeah.

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In July, I went to Geneva, Switzerland to see my friend Dena from LA who lives there now... we had a great relaxing time.. it was quite nice! and Ava (Dena & Hyder's little girl) was so cute and a breath of fresh air to see and hang with... Oh.. and let me tell you.. Dena and Hyder live right on Lake Geneva.. their view is absolutely Stunning!! i can't even get over it!!! And while i was there, I was able to see my new dear friend, Jade, who is from South Africa, who I met here in London. She is a doll and her boy friend, oddly enough, just moved to Geneva as well! So that was really great to see them and catch up as well! oh, and i almost forgot! i went to Evian, France!! ya know, where the water actually comes from!! cute little town!!

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June was spent splashing around in the south of Portugal, in The Algarve and Lagos with my friend Laura. UNREAL! although the water was quite chilly, it was refreshing after sitting on hot beach. We hike the beach for miles and climbed these amazing rocks and cliffs. Stunning... The sunsets were fantastic and the food, was really good!! i could have stayed there forever! - the only annoying part was in The Algarve, all the waiters or hostesses would harass you to come into their restaurants. it was OK the first 2 hours.. but then i wanted to hit them! :-) and actually all the restaurants that we ate at were off the beaten path and we were not harassed to go in... so if you are ever there... follow my lead!

next week, i am off to Oktoberfest. It should be a great time. My friend Jenny and crew from the US are going as well, which will make for a fantastic time!!

More later!!

here are a few pics... ENJOY!

Rach


Bulgaria:






Southend, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick Castle & Windsor Castle:






Brighton Beach:






Geneva:






Algarve & Lagos, Portugal:

SORRY!!

I am so sorry for slacking on this blog. As some of you may know, i have been a crazy traveling fool. I have given myself a goal to get out of London once a month to see what else there is. And Lordy, there is a lot!

February: Essex (to visit the fam)
March: Paris
April: Prague
May: Santiago, Spain
June: The Algarve, South Portugal

hmmmmmmmm..... where to next?!?!

Actually, for July and August i am going to check out the UK... Brighton, Cornwall, Bath, Wales, etc... with a minor detour up to switzerland to visit one of my bestest, Dena...

i do have some interesting stories to tell! i promise to write more, soon!! next monday & tuesday!! :-)

stay tuned!

rach

The Visit... to Paris

So, living in London is allowing me to travel freely and cheap! which is fantastic.

So far i have returned to Paris and Prague. Both cities are so amazing. And i saw a different side of them this time around. I am not sure if it is because of who i was with in each city, or different time of the year or what. But it was great.

I returned to Paris this time around with friends that i grew up with in Long Island, NY, Allie, Mehgan, Nikki. We had a great time. the girls arrived the 2 nights before me and checked out the Eiffel Tower and the Louve and waited for me to revisit the Museum de Orsay, my most favorite museum in the world (to date).. all my boyfriends are there, Renoir, Monet, Manet, the list can go on!! the Impressionist Period is my love. It was wonderful. You literally get lost in those paintings.

Later that day we headed to Notre Dame, which i saw from the outside last time, but was able to actually go INSIDE this time around. And i am not kidding you at all when i say, i cried the second i walked in there. I don't really know how to explain it, but a warm feeling came over me and lasted the entire time i was inside, as if my mom and everyone else that has passed reached down and gave me a hug. it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and something i will NEVER forget. And the weird thing is that Allie & Nikki said they had a similar feeling and non of us are super religious.

Anyway, that night we climbed somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 steps, on the tightest stairwell to the top of the Arch de Triumph. Quite a nice view at night, especially of the Eiffel Tower with its lights show. Then enjoyed an pretty amazing dinner on the Champs Elysees. We chatted the night away, enjoyed a few bottles of wine and people watched on the best street for it! So fun!

The following morning we were on a time limit as the girls were flying back to London and i was taking the train about an hour after them. So, we decided to head up the hill and see the Basilique du Sacre-Coeu (Sacred Heart Church). We climbed over 200 steps up the hill to reach the church. Which is beautiful and has a great view of Paris, but definitely did not have the religious experience like at Notre Dame. After we circling the church for 20min, we finally found the entrance to climb to the top of the Dome. Lordy, those stairs were actually not as bad as the Arch de Triumph, but wow, there were a lot of them! Unfortunately, when we got to the top, the haze in the air made it difficult to see the rest of Paris, but it was still quite an amazing view. And on the way back down the stair, a pigeon was in the stairwell with us, at first he was nice and showing us the way down, then he try to fly inside the stairwell, and screams that came out of our mouths were hysterical.. I don't think i have laughed that hard in ages!! it was probably one of the funniest things ever!

Once we finally made it to the ground level, we continued our way down Montmarte Hill, which has the Greatest little cafes and absolutely amazing artists all sitting around a square painting and drawing way. it is breathtaking. and of course Moulin Rouge!!

WIth one more yummy lunch, we were on our way! The girls collected they belongings at the hotel and headed to the airport. i on the other hand had about an hour to kill, so i just started to roam the streets.. after about 20min or so, i stopped to sit on a deserted park bench and jot in my diary and fiddle with my ipod. Now, i must have been really into what i was writing or listening to, because all the sudden i look up and i am surrounded by a SEA of people on rollerblade/rollerskates! and i mean i did not hear any of them!! crazy, because there thousands!! Unreal... so i asked a nice guy who was sitting next to me about it and he said that every friday night and sunday afternoon paris shuts down and there is a police escort for any and all skaters to skate through paris! friday night, he said, is usually for the more experienced skaters. But when i tell you there were 3-4yr olds skating as well as people that looked well into there 60s & 70s! it was crazy and super cool! Next time i am in paris, i am definitely going to give that a try!

Anyway.... i made my way back to London and met up with the girls. I took them to a local PUB near there hotel and told Nikki & Mehgan they had to either have a "PIE" or "FISH N CHIPS" since had never been here before and the chose the fish and chips and loved it!

The next morning, before the girls headed back home, we headed to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards, Abbey Road to see the Beatles famous record Album cover and then off to YO SUSHI for some fun sushi!!

It was an absolutely great visit all around! love you girls!!

Stirling Road

Stirling Road, my new humble abode...

As i said earlier, i was hunting around on Gumtree looking for a place and low and behold, after weeks of searching, I found Stirling Road. It is a lovely 3 story Victorian. I live with 3 guys, i know, a little crazy. Elwyn is from Ireland, Chris is from Glasgow and Zach is from England. All of them are great! the house has a "guy vibe" to it, but i am managing and having fun.

here are a few pics of my girlie room and the "garden." I love that it is called a garden and not a backyard by the way! :-)

more to come at somepoint...

hope you all are well.

GUMTREE....

Ok.. so i have a few posts i NEED to write, including the one about my Pakistan Cab Driver, The Underdog and Aussies... but i had to let you all know about Gumtree and the hysterics that it has brought me!! :-)

So, Gumtree is basically the London version of Craiglist. They have Craiglist here, too, but it is not as popular. Anyway, like may people do to post ads about living situations and sublets, i did as well in that i am looking for a flat. It is not scary and this way, i can broaden my network of friends here in London...

i have gotten some amazing responses and saw tons of flat, but nothing that has blown me away yet... anyway.. in addition to the flats, i have received some interesting e-mails.. see below for my favorite one so far and feel free to laugh aloud like i did.. and see if you can point out a few of my favorite line!!

#1 ... my favorite...

Hi,

You look very pretty, thats why I am asking if you would be interested in this job. The money is very good and its not hard work, there is no sex involved but you do have to undress, dont worry, its not infront of lots of people, its just one person and you get paid £80 an hour. Its not in a club, its very discreet, its in a private apartment and you can wear a mask if you want.

Let me know if you want this job.

Its good even if you do it for a short time to pay bills, thats why Im doing it.

Michaela x

YO! SUSHI

Yo! Sushi is probably one of the most amazing places EVER.

It is a fun sushi restaurant where you can either sit in a booth or at the bar and the sushi passes you by on a little conveyor belt. it is amazing. and depending on the color of the plate you pick up, tells you how much it is. it is simply fantastic! and there is also a full menu if you would like soups or hot food. and to top it off, they also have a water fountain right at your table.

it is priceless and amazing!!

just thought you should all know! :-)

til next time...

Rachel