no queues at kew

L2's cousin came to down last weekend. As she had been to London numerous times - we didn't take her on any traditional tours. Instead - we broke it down at our fav Thai place, took her to the temporary pavillion at Hyde Park by Frank Gehry (will post on that later!) and the next day took her to this awesome free exhibit on bones in London and then to Kew.


Kew was gorgeous. The Royal Botanical Gardens did not disappoint with it's wide open spaces and carefully manicured lawns. However, the treetop walk is nothing like the one at Cap Suspension Bridge. This one swayed. I was not happy.
I love visitors - they force me to get out and do some new touristy things!

Image via

Pictures and sunflower farms

Just not enough space or desire today to blog about everything in Romania - however, if you would like to take a look at all the pictures, be my guest. Beware L2 thought the sheep were cute.

On our drive to the coast we witnessed miles and miles of sunflower farms. We couldn't figure out what they were harvested for besides the seeds and oil. I guess that could be enough.

Needless to say - the next few post pics are L2 and my originials.

nothing will ever top this hike

So our second day into Romania - L2 and I wanted to hike. We had a grand plan of hiking for four hours across the ridges of the Fagaras mountains and ending up at a cabana that would cost 10 euro.

Instead the ridges were more like straight up and down a mountain. Our path was blown out due to snow and it was so icy that we had to go down on our rain jackets for about 100/200 feet. That was actually fun. In the end we got about half way (what we discovered was half way) and found out the cabana was still four hours away. We had been hiking for 3.5 by then and was purely exhausted. Romania hikes were not for the faint of heart. Also, we only had about an hour and a half of sun left.

So we slept in a rescue shelter with three romanian boys and an avid hiker. Slat wooden boards really didn't help with my severe sunstroke and most likely altitude sickness. Feel bad for L2.

L2 dubbed it the death march of July 2008.

introduction to Lenny and Carl.

So in Heathrow Terminal 5, Liam and I had some time to kill and were starving. What did that mean - smoothies and pain chocolate! In addition - we got these great giraffes. And it was love at first plastic. Now named 'Lenny and Carl' - they are going on every journey with us. We hope to take their picture at every place we go to (a la Amelie gnome style but without the weight of a garden gnome). Here are Lenny and Carl at the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest. The second largest building in the world. It's just thick with concrete.Next picture - the swiss alps

Saving one women's chastity by natural disaster

Finally blogging about specific things in Romania. Got lazy due to the ridicilous sunny weather in London and it was about 25 degrees. Perfecto.

Anyhoo - one of the stories we were told in Romania was about Killer Lake. The lake holds undisintegrated tree stumps from 1837. They still have no clue why this phenomen happened. But the reason for the flooding - a beautiful women's virtue.

One day, a gorgeous women went to Gheorgeni (the closest town to Killer Lake). There she met a very handsome man and as two good looking people do - they fell in love. Unfortunately, the guy had to leave and fight against the Turks. They were unable to marry before he left and she often would go down to the stream in her valley and pine for him.

Several years later, the boy had still not returned home and the girl kept pining. Her beauty had attracted the local chief and he wanted her to love him and marry him. He was not so pretty and she kept denying him. Finally, (by way of force and persuasion on her family) he forced her into agreeing to marry. She desperately didn't want to - and again went down to her stream and talked to it.

This time it listened and a massive earthquake happened, crumbling the mountain onto the village and killing everyone. By the time everything had ended - there was a lake (where there was once a stream) and the trees peered over - living and keeping her memory alive.

The Borat connection

Again - waiting for photographs but in the meantime L2 and I found out the strangest connection in Romania. All those village scenes in Borat when he's back in his 'home country' of Kazakhstan... yeah it was filmed in southern Romania. Also, all the locals speaking that are not speaking English, they are not speaking Kazakhstanian - they are unabashedly speaking Romanian.

Apparently they are suing Sacha Baron Cohen at the present time due to the meagre funds the production gave them and they did not understand the release waiver because it was not in their language.

Image via

Waiting for Gehry

Normally exhibits surprise me in London. I didn't even know something was going on until I read a Metro paper in the morning or get a BBC London alert or my Time Out weekly newsletter. (Yes, I am on way too many mailings). However, I've been waiting months for this one! The Serpentine Gallery temporary exhibit is open for the summer. This year's structure was designed by Frank Gehry. It's a combo of steel and timber with an inspiration (apparently) from Leonardo DaVinci's design for wooden catupults.

I'm thinking of dragging L2's cousin there as soon as she arrives!

Image via the same link above.

Romania

So one week later and I'm back at work. It's amazing how time works like that. I thought I could stall it and spend more time in probably the most beautiful country I have ever visited. L2 and I toured 1600 km in 7 days. Incredibly we did not want to kill each other at the end of it. When the pictures are downloaded I'll start blogging about specifics - but here is a rundown of highlights - or just 'lights'.

• Green - first day
• Coral - second day (remember that was straight up and we were going 30 the majority of the time due to the cliff issue)
• Blue- third day
• Red - fourth day - painful due to large potholes and extensive roadwork
• Pink - fifth day - we didn't travel far!
• Baby blue - sixth day
• dark blue - seventh day. Shockingly enough that drive took about as long as the third day (just about 45 minutes longer. Mountains and horse drawn carts really throw a wrench in the quick driving plans.)
• Highlighter yellow - the easiest drive. Oh how nice a real highway was at that point. No horses allowed!

1. sliding down a glacier as the glacier decided that it took precedence over our path.
2. Sibiu - a town built above the rest of the city so you had a great view from the cobblestoned city centre.
3. seeing about 50 pelicans in one spot in the Danube Delta (no exaggeration - our guide even took a picture)
4. two different occasions of sun stroke. Both did not equal good times for me. Apparently my pale skin was not down with the hot sun.
5. thinking I was going to die off a cliff on the Transfergarian Pass as the guard rail was rusted and broken in more than just several parts. Oh and the cliff was literally two feet away from my door.
6. taking a dip in the Black Sea.
7. looking at 365 different frescos in a random church in Curtea de Arges.
8. staying in a Borat looking village our first night with our own balcony.
9. all the horses
10. the kms of sunflower farms
11. the fort at Rasnov.
12. the cement craziness of Bucharest include Palace of Parliament (the second largest building (just one). The first is the US pentagon.
13. the cutest stray dogs I've ever seen in my life.
14. the vince vaughn look-a-like at a random village gas station. He was so friendly and his gas station bathroom was the cleanest thing in the world.
15. the bicaz gorge and killer lake. both were natural wonders to behold.

Bad robot

I know I've been bad this week so I'm doing 5 posts today. First off – why I've been so bad. We've been planning Romania while I work and volunteer for my association who for some reason got their butts in gear this week out of all the weeks. To make it up, I've posted at least some things from the last week.

Sorry. Especially since I'm out till 21 July. Not really going to access email or the internet in Romania.

are you going to the moon

So with a 'visitor' from university in London - L2 and I took him out to Cha cha moon - the new asian cafeteria where everything is £3.50. It's good food too. I think it shocked him that there was somewhere affordable to eat in London that had larger portions and was actually good. I like shocking people. The only thing that was a bit tacky is the waiter's garb. All the shirts say 'are you going to the moon'. Your food is good, it's not michelin starred good.

Hayward Gallery report

So as I talked about last Thursday – L2 was making me a picnic and we were finally going to the Hayward Gallery. They have an exhibition going on called Pyscho buildings. The creations (all different artists) were about our interaction with space, buildings and really a point in one's life. There was a variety of exhibits and as per usual I loved the ones you could interact with. Favs: I picked the 'pink' bowl and got to go up to the top and float in this crazy two floor circular thing. Don't ask me how it worked. All I know was that it was like a giant dry pool (you could see your shadows and the waves). I love making art. Second – the rowboat. Nothing is more fun than rowing on an asphalt roof. They really did transform the space – it was quaint, sweet and picturesque admist concrete, roofs and the bare minimal view of the Thames. I would love to meet that artist.No pics were allowed. Ugh. I'm sure pictures wouldn't do it justice anyway. Instead here's a random photo from another psycho building - the stairs. This guy brings this everywhere with him so he has home nearby.

4. getting holiday pumped

I'm getting super excited about this trip. Literally I've not had a week off since Christmas. I've a four day week several times but nothing with a 'huge' chunk of time off. Previously a student for so many years – I've had a week off at spring, a week between school and work, normally a week (or several) at the end of the summer, some time at Christmas – the list goes on. So needless to say, I'm eagerly anticipating this trip.

The highlights: Dracula's castle. His resting place. Transylvania mountains, hiking and hiking huts. Sibiu (European city of culture 2007). The Disney version of Dracula's castle. Transfergian pass (only open six weeks of the year). 3/4s of Europe's carnivorous animals. Danube Delta. Roman ruins. Constanta. Bucharest. Painted monasteries. Killer lake (it's green and full of tree stumps) - see left. Bicaz Gorge. And probably stuff that I can't even prepare for.

The london rain

Well we had a good run. All of June was filled with mainly sun. And then Wednesday the run hit. We had our monthly rain fall in one day. Needless to say I got depressed and played a lot of computer games. I'm still crossing my fingers that by the time I get back - the sun will be shining and it will be back to 25 degrees.

culture and picnics = a Friday plan

Finally - Liam and I are headed to some pyscho buildings. Tomorrow night we're having a picnic (woo hoo) on the Southbank and then headed up to the Hayward Gallery to check out their exhibit : Pyscho buildings. It's a perfect Friday evening plan. I hope it's everything that it's been hyped up to be.

going to the land of dracula

Finally - a proper vacation! Liam and I are headed to Romania for a week. That's right - Dracula and I are apparently going to become buddies. We're renting a car and spending most of our time in Transylvania to do some rock climbing, hiking and view a passageway only open for six weeks of the summer. Transylvania is also considered the largest wilderness in Europe. I'm looking forward to fresh air and more than a day off. We're also planning on heading to the Black Sea and taking a look at the largest delta in Europe. Images are of Bran Castle - the tourist verison of Dracula's castle and Constanta.

A bonus: Romania (once you get there) is also pretty cheap. I'll let you know if that's true.

Cut!

Oh no - in the midst of the one week of not reading a fav blog of mine 'La Belette Rouge' I got cut. Her blog is open to invited readers only now and I didn't make the cut!

I'll miss you!

missing Canada day

It's definitely the first year I've had to work on my nation's birthday. It has made me very grumpy. And tonight - I'm headed to my work's summer party instead of whooping it up with all the other maple leafers in Trafalagar Square. I'm a bit bitter. I'll get over it.Image via

the official drink of the summer

Say goodbye to Sangria. In England - it's all about the Pimms! Delicious lemonade with a bit of a kick. I'm not sure if you can get Pimms in North America, or sparkling lemonade and ginger beer, but I'll find it when I move back.

Try it at home and it'll be your official summer drink too!

Ingredients

• Pimms
• lemonade
• ice
• fresh mint leaves
• lemons, sliced
• cucumber, sliced
• ginger beer
• strawberries, to garnish

Method1. Pour the Pimms and lemonade over ice in a Boston shaker.2. Add ginger beer and ½ strawberry.3. Add some mint leaves, lemon and cucumber slices to taste.4. Serve in a wide brimmed glass or massive jug. 5. Remember it has alcohol. Pimms is a liqueur.