So the false alarm regarding the potential shutdown of NYU Home prevented me from posting a timely update of my trip to England last month. So I shall try to encapsulate the week thusly:
Despite my fears that York wouldn't be all that exciting, it is a very lovely medieval city with what a travel guide might call a vibrant young university-oriented population. It has a lot of nice pedestrian malls as well on the ground floors of those medieval houses. The old fortress walls still surround the city, and the whole quaint cityscape is dominated by the huge York Minster. If you're into history, it's a goldmine. Their viking heritage is preserved in a museum built atop an excavated village, and you tour the site via an Epcotesque chair ride that takes you through some cheesy/enjoyable tableaux of viking life -- complete with authentic 11th century smells!
York is also Richard III central. A very small museum is devoted to clearing his name in the accusation that he killed his two nephews, and what it lacks in presentation savvy it makes up for in heartfelt affection for its subject. It looks a lot like a very well-done 7t grade project. They are still wicked pissed at Shakespeare for the mean things he said. I appreciate their sincerity, but Dickie 3 totally did that shit.
Edinburgh, Scotland is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Last time I was there we had 45 minutes to tour the Castle there and precious little time for anything else. This time we killed a day touring the Castle properly (it took a few hours), and walking along the Royal Mile and touring the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Palace is the Edinburgh base for QE2 and fam, and is also the Ripley's Believe it or Not of royal residences. Not only do you see the standard-issue extravagant bedrooms and parlors and art galleries, but several rooms are full of stuff like Mary Queen of Scots' hair and a cast of Robert the Bruce's skull. Excellent. I also had chicken stuffed with haggis and bacon in a whisky cream sauce. Yum.
Visiting London in 2 days is exhausting. We visited all of our old favorites -- British Museum, National Gallery, NYU London HQ, Oxford Street and the site of the old dorm, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace -- all in the first day. We also saw the Princess of Wales memorial, which looks for all the world like a drainage ditch. Google it. You'll see what I mean. We spent the next day at the Tower, walking the Thames, and rushing to Harrod's just in time for it to close. We gatecrashed an evensong service at Westminster Abbey since it was closed for touring, and we wanted to see us some famous dead folks, consarn it. Each day was closed by getting engrossed in British TV at the hotel, including the British Apprentice. I have no idea who the Trump equivalent is, but he sure is more intimidating than the Donald.
So it was not a leisurely visit, to be sure. And my poor knees hurt something awful after all that walking and stair-climbing. But it was very worth it to see Christine again and have a little adventure.
Robyn
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Screw It, I'm Going to New York (Blizzard Edition)
So last Tuesday I received an invitation to a house party in Brooklyn. I had no plans to be in Brooklyn this weekend, but then I realized, why shouldn't I? So I booked a Greyhound bus and got a cheap hotel and lo and behold, I was off to NYC for the weekend.
I did, however, forget to check trusty ol' weather.com. As it turns out, New York was in for a bit of snow this weekend. Not just a bit of snow, but the city's the biggest snowfall ever on record.
It was fine my first day. I paid a visit to the New York Historical Society's exhibit on slavery in New York, and then went to the Met for a leisurely evening visit before heading to Brooklyn. But by the time I left the party, the snow was really coming down and the wind whipped it into great big white swirls that felt none too good on bare skin. Luckily, I was wearing Parkazilla and big ol' snow boots. This was not a trip about looking hot.
The next morning there was 27 inches of snow on the ground, and people were positively giddy. I had seen a few inches fall on the city, but nothing like this. Cars were buried, streets were unplowed, and everything was quiet. As I walked down Central Park West, a small SUV came barrelling down the street and spun out wildly in front of me. Before I could properly react, a young college-age guy leaned out the window and said "WHHOOOOOO!!! Dude, you gotta do it!!" I gave him a thumbs up in approval.
People were pulling their kids in sleds through the streets in Brooklyn, artsy looking kids were taking pictures of lamposts in Central Park, people were building snowmen in Rockefeller Center, and everyone was generally behaving as if they had woken up on another planet. But there were still a good number of people out. One lady out with her beau was wearing heels and Capri pants. You gotta look good, I suppose.
I was very glad for a lovely snowy day, but transportation was not the most enchanting part. Greyhound basically laughed when I called about scheduling. So I took a train, along with passengers from the three previous trains before mine that had all been cancelled. Signal problems, empty cafe cars, and eavesdropping on semi-drunken bisexual college students occupied my time during the duration of the eight-hour ride home. It is not supposed to take eight hours, nor is it supposed to take 45 minutes to get a taxi from Union Station, but such is the price to pay for spontanaeity.
Robyn
I did, however, forget to check trusty ol' weather.com. As it turns out, New York was in for a bit of snow this weekend. Not just a bit of snow, but the city's the biggest snowfall ever on record.
It was fine my first day. I paid a visit to the New York Historical Society's exhibit on slavery in New York, and then went to the Met for a leisurely evening visit before heading to Brooklyn. But by the time I left the party, the snow was really coming down and the wind whipped it into great big white swirls that felt none too good on bare skin. Luckily, I was wearing Parkazilla and big ol' snow boots. This was not a trip about looking hot.
The next morning there was 27 inches of snow on the ground, and people were positively giddy. I had seen a few inches fall on the city, but nothing like this. Cars were buried, streets were unplowed, and everything was quiet. As I walked down Central Park West, a small SUV came barrelling down the street and spun out wildly in front of me. Before I could properly react, a young college-age guy leaned out the window and said "WHHOOOOOO!!! Dude, you gotta do it!!" I gave him a thumbs up in approval.
People were pulling their kids in sleds through the streets in Brooklyn, artsy looking kids were taking pictures of lamposts in Central Park, people were building snowmen in Rockefeller Center, and everyone was generally behaving as if they had woken up on another planet. But there were still a good number of people out. One lady out with her beau was wearing heels and Capri pants. You gotta look good, I suppose.
I was very glad for a lovely snowy day, but transportation was not the most enchanting part. Greyhound basically laughed when I called about scheduling. So I took a train, along with passengers from the three previous trains before mine that had all been cancelled. Signal problems, empty cafe cars, and eavesdropping on semi-drunken bisexual college students occupied my time during the duration of the eight-hour ride home. It is not supposed to take eight hours, nor is it supposed to take 45 minutes to get a taxi from Union Station, but such is the price to pay for spontanaeity.
Robyn
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Pennsylvania Solidarity
It scarcely needs mentioning that I anticipated last year's Super Bowl far more than this year's. However, I bear no ill will towards the AFC Champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a rule, I almost never support the NFC team in the Super Bowl, unless their name starts with an E and ends with an A-G-L-E-S. Superpal Beth has been supportive of me in the past Philly-less weeks, and has invited me to her own Pittsburgh-affiliated haunt-- the Pour House on Capitol Hill -- to watch some football. So naturally, I watched the Super Bowl with Beth to feed off the vicarious joy of watching somebody else's team win.
Because seating in the Steelers bar was so very precious, I felt it imperative not to advertise the fact that I was an outsider. A sympathetic outsider, but nonetheless, I was taking up prime barstool space. So I did my best to blend in. I wore black and gold eye makeup and nail polish, and did my best to expunge any Seahawks-oriented blue and green from my person. At Beth's behest, I arrived at the Pour House at noon. So I held my perch at the bar for ten. bloody. hours. They played a Steelers fight song album ad nauseum. Aye, there is enough material for an album. Much of it has a polka theme. I now know every word, and probably will for all my days. One day there will be a very tiny, shriveled old woman tucked into the corner of some assisted living center emphatically yelling "Polamalu! Doo-Dooooo-da-doo-doo!"
Anyway, I wouldn't care to make this a yearly activity, but it was nice to feed off the crowd's energy. Beth shed a tear or two. Very nice.
Next year, I hope to host Beth at the Rhino in Georgetown, where Eagles fans gather. There she can compare the Pour House's relative civility to the drunken staff and patrons throwing empty pitchers at each other, abusing opposing supporters, and singing our ONE drunken fight song.
I later got an update from on-the-spot reporter/student teacher/brother Bobby, who told me that he saw many a couch set alight in the streets of Pittsburgh after the victory. I myself have experienced dizzying euphoria on occassion. I have been moved to sing, dance, laugh, cry, holler, yelp, spout nonsense syllables, and moo like a cow -- but never have I been compelled to express my delight by setting anything ablaze, let alone something so precious as a couch. Do people stockpile rank old couches just in case? Just wondering. 'Cuz I really like mine, and utilize it quite a bit. I'd be lost without it, really, and can't pictures torching it in a fit of joy. It's also quite heavy, and rather difficult to get into the elevator. The logistics alone would be enough to kill my buzz. I'm all for new experiences, but I'm fairly comfortable with maintaining an arson-free existence.
Robyn
Because seating in the Steelers bar was so very precious, I felt it imperative not to advertise the fact that I was an outsider. A sympathetic outsider, but nonetheless, I was taking up prime barstool space. So I did my best to blend in. I wore black and gold eye makeup and nail polish, and did my best to expunge any Seahawks-oriented blue and green from my person. At Beth's behest, I arrived at the Pour House at noon. So I held my perch at the bar for ten. bloody. hours. They played a Steelers fight song album ad nauseum. Aye, there is enough material for an album. Much of it has a polka theme. I now know every word, and probably will for all my days. One day there will be a very tiny, shriveled old woman tucked into the corner of some assisted living center emphatically yelling "Polamalu! Doo-Dooooo-da-doo-doo!"
Anyway, I wouldn't care to make this a yearly activity, but it was nice to feed off the crowd's energy. Beth shed a tear or two. Very nice.
Next year, I hope to host Beth at the Rhino in Georgetown, where Eagles fans gather. There she can compare the Pour House's relative civility to the drunken staff and patrons throwing empty pitchers at each other, abusing opposing supporters, and singing our ONE drunken fight song.
I later got an update from on-the-spot reporter/student teacher/brother Bobby, who told me that he saw many a couch set alight in the streets of Pittsburgh after the victory. I myself have experienced dizzying euphoria on occassion. I have been moved to sing, dance, laugh, cry, holler, yelp, spout nonsense syllables, and moo like a cow -- but never have I been compelled to express my delight by setting anything ablaze, let alone something so precious as a couch. Do people stockpile rank old couches just in case? Just wondering. 'Cuz I really like mine, and utilize it quite a bit. I'd be lost without it, really, and can't pictures torching it in a fit of joy. It's also quite heavy, and rather difficult to get into the elevator. The logistics alone would be enough to kill my buzz. I'm all for new experiences, but I'm fairly comfortable with maintaining an arson-free existence.
Robyn
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Screw It, I'm Going to England
So when you're feeling a little blue and a little lonely and a little out of sorts -- and British Airways is having a killer sale -- there's really only one option left to you.
Leave the bloody country.
After careful consideration of about 10 minutes, I went and booked me a trip to the UK this March to visit dear old Christine in York and spend some time in the old stomping grounds of London.
It doesn't hurt that the sale included a free night at a posh hotel in Kensington either. It's rather too good a deal. I should really check and see if there are any unsavory conventions in town that week or something.
Though considering that a few weeks ago a hotel in my neighborhood played host to the Mid-Atlantic Leather Appreciation Society, I think I can deal with any debauched conventioneers.
Yes it was as bad as you think. Though it did make me oddly nostalgic for Greenwich Village...
Robyn
Leave the bloody country.
After careful consideration of about 10 minutes, I went and booked me a trip to the UK this March to visit dear old Christine in York and spend some time in the old stomping grounds of London.
It doesn't hurt that the sale included a free night at a posh hotel in Kensington either. It's rather too good a deal. I should really check and see if there are any unsavory conventions in town that week or something.
Though considering that a few weeks ago a hotel in my neighborhood played host to the Mid-Atlantic Leather Appreciation Society, I think I can deal with any debauched conventioneers.
Yes it was as bad as you think. Though it did make me oddly nostalgic for Greenwich Village...
Robyn
Monday, January 30, 2006
...Aaaaand I'm Back
Yes! It's a new blog record for the longest break in updates evah! EVAH! It has been an entire two months since the last entry, and since then we've gotten a new Congress, the Eagles have blown and regain a shot at the division title, InterAction has moved offices, I've seen my first live NFL game AND seen Bob Saget say filthy naughty things to a bunch of college kids, and my humble little crappy blog turned five years old. How flime does ty. If my blog were a baby back in 2001, it would be entering kindergarten now, learning to play with all the other blogs in the sandpit, bringing home finger paint drawings, eating ChapStick... ::sniff:: They grow up so fact these days...
One would assume I've either been spectacularly busy or numbingly inert to have interrupted my online habits so egregiously. Truth be told -- it's been a little bit of both. The first, and most important, is the formal introduction of a new character to the blog: New Boyfriend Mark! Yay Mark! Mark is a very smart lad from Virginny who has a black cat named after an Iron Chef, makes a mean seared tuna steak, and is a durned nice fella. He is a Washington Redskins fan, but nobody's perfect. Pictures and assorted visual aids will soon be made available to the curious.
So Mark and I have been having a right lively time of it. We've been to NYC, gone to wineries in Virginia, seen a bunch of concerts, etc. Then two weeks ago it all came to a screeching halt when I acquired the Weirdest Assortment of Medical Maladies Ever. A sinus infection turned into vertigo. Verti-freaking-o. Who gets vertigo these days, besides Liza Minnelli's character in Arrested Development? Me, that's who, and I can tell you that you don't want to be compared to a Liza Minnelli character of any sort. I still have the pleasure to have the Vert, and it kind of feels like you're always watching a movie with a handheld camera. The first few days felt like I was always riding the teacups at Disneyland, so I suppose it's an improvement. Though really, when you're in a state in which you feel the need to projectile vomit every time you stand up, you have no where to go but up.
Or do you? Because soon after coming down with the Vert, I developed a mean case of strep throat that was diagnosed as being a side effect of...mono! Yes, that thing teenagers get from kissin'. Most folks who get it are between the ages of 10 and 17. I turn 26 in two weeks. I am awesome. So I spent a monorific, vertastic holiday at home. And I still get a little dizzy and sleepy. What of it?
Short story long, my prolonged absence was due in part to excessive and welcome social activity, and in part to excessive and most unwelcome illness. No telling when the next one will be. Maybe the blog will have gotten its driver's license by then, or gone to prom, or gotten married and had little blogs of its own. There's really no telling.
More to come (or is there????)
Robyn
One would assume I've either been spectacularly busy or numbingly inert to have interrupted my online habits so egregiously. Truth be told -- it's been a little bit of both. The first, and most important, is the formal introduction of a new character to the blog: New Boyfriend Mark! Yay Mark! Mark is a very smart lad from Virginny who has a black cat named after an Iron Chef, makes a mean seared tuna steak, and is a durned nice fella. He is a Washington Redskins fan, but nobody's perfect. Pictures and assorted visual aids will soon be made available to the curious.
So Mark and I have been having a right lively time of it. We've been to NYC, gone to wineries in Virginia, seen a bunch of concerts, etc. Then two weeks ago it all came to a screeching halt when I acquired the Weirdest Assortment of Medical Maladies Ever. A sinus infection turned into vertigo. Verti-freaking-o. Who gets vertigo these days, besides Liza Minnelli's character in Arrested Development? Me, that's who, and I can tell you that you don't want to be compared to a Liza Minnelli character of any sort. I still have the pleasure to have the Vert, and it kind of feels like you're always watching a movie with a handheld camera. The first few days felt like I was always riding the teacups at Disneyland, so I suppose it's an improvement. Though really, when you're in a state in which you feel the need to projectile vomit every time you stand up, you have no where to go but up.
Or do you? Because soon after coming down with the Vert, I developed a mean case of strep throat that was diagnosed as being a side effect of...mono! Yes, that thing teenagers get from kissin'. Most folks who get it are between the ages of 10 and 17. I turn 26 in two weeks. I am awesome. So I spent a monorific, vertastic holiday at home. And I still get a little dizzy and sleepy. What of it?
Short story long, my prolonged absence was due in part to excessive and welcome social activity, and in part to excessive and most unwelcome illness. No telling when the next one will be. Maybe the blog will have gotten its driver's license by then, or gone to prom, or gotten married and had little blogs of its own. There's really no telling.
More to come (or is there????)
Robyn
One Should Not...
One should not be able to sit outside one's office building at lunch on January 30 in nary but a tank top, calf-length skirt, and stockings and feel perfectly comfortable and not cold at all.
It's just wrong.
Robyn
It's just wrong.
Robyn
Sunday, January 1, 2006
New Year's Resolutions
After a raucous New Year's Eve spent watching Pride and Prejudice and eating Thai food on Capitol Hill, it is time to turn to the more serious task of examining one's goals for the year. Here goes:
Reclaim other half of the apartment
Use ultra-sharp new knives to debone the shit out of a chicken carcass -- and make homemade broth!
Watch DVDs given as presents for Christmases 2001-5
When asking someone "How are you," actually stop to hear the answer
Bust out the roller skates
Take a morning off to see the baby panda
Dust off the passport, and actually use it
Learn how to flirt
Eat more cheese
Drink more
Fairly attainable, I think. Happy new year!
Reclaim other half of the apartment
Use ultra-sharp new knives to debone the shit out of a chicken carcass -- and make homemade broth!
Watch DVDs given as presents for Christmases 2001-5
When asking someone "How are you," actually stop to hear the answer
Bust out the roller skates
Take a morning off to see the baby panda
Dust off the passport, and actually use it
Learn how to flirt
Eat more cheese
Drink more
Fairly attainable, I think. Happy new year!
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