The London/ Amsterdam Hang-Over

Oh man. I am recovering from vacation right now, I am in vacation hangover mode. Since I don't really know where to begin in recounting my adventures I would like to foremost apologize for how pretentious my last blog sounded in retrospect. It's not that I regularly blow off celebrities (or that I usually come across them) or that I run super fast because, admittedly, I exaggerated a bit, but it was more an issue of me having an inexplicable tendency to look like I'm drunk when I run, running from side to side incoherently, and that tendency combined with the very narrow treadmill belt is recipe for disaster (as exemplified by Evan in one particular, quite hilarious instance). Needless to say, treadmills are dangerous beyond mention and I take that threat seriously. But enough of treadmills and me trying to justify myself, I just spent a week in London, Stonehedge, Bath, and Amsterdam which is far, far more interesting than treadmills.

My trip comprised of a visit to the Saatchi Art Gallery, a modern art gallery exhibiting modern Indian art which was incredible.

After that was a visit to Buckingham Palace and a chance encounter with the changing of the guards. We took a stroll through the Queen's Garden which has a striking resemblance to Central Park but far more quaint. We explored Piccadilly Square, found an old pub, fish and chips and good English beer. I got the incredible opportunity to see Magnum Photo which is a photo co-op of sorts and they provide some of the famous photographs found in National Geographic and Time Magazine. We were lectured on the history and evolution of this co-op and background on some of the greatest photographers of all time. I saw Abbey Road, the infamous cover to the Beatles last album, and their recording studio. We ventured to an alley way in the Pakistani neighborhood to find street food and picnic tables set up with a wine bar. Right inside the alley way was a building that showed six short films once a week for free from film makers all over the world. The films were...interesting. Some incredibly well-done, others of less quality, and some just weird. The most notable is one in which a cannibalistic cat stole parts of human bodies before eating them in an attempt to turn himself into a human being... Speechless, yes, I know. We followed that up by a visit to club and a night in the VIP room. That, ladies and gents, was just my Monday.

The rest of the trip was wonderful as well with trips to the London eye, absolutely incredible food (if you're looking for a study abroad program that hooks you up with delectable cuisine, which surely should be your main incentive, then DIS is the program for you), speeches from Tony Blair's "Spin Doctor" and a tour of the Telegraph. We saw Harrods and markets all over London, we toured the river-way and the streets of London. My favorite day, though, was our trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was fascinating given the sheer weight of the rocks and the ingenuity required to move those rocks from over 40km away (or more) and to play them vertically and on-top of each other. The theories surrounding the monument were equally interesting ranging from alien abduction sites to ritual prayer sites.

Bath, though, was the most incredible part of the trip. The old Roman baths were gorgeous and the entire city was built in the same stone used to build the Roman temple in which the baths sat. With gorgeous waterways and incredible architecture weaving through the city, it was more than remarkable.

This is Emma and I with some Romans we ran into.

After an incredible week in London, Bath, and Stonehendge we found our way to Amsterdam...

Amsterdam is continued in the blog above as this seems too long and combining the two adventure does disservice to both places.