A great deal has happened since i last left you fellow blogites. yes...you are now part of the blog community...sad though it is...i know...but accept your blog status...you are of the future of the world!! anyway...i am now in wales...the homeland! really feels great to be
here, a place where when people respond to my name (ryan). they
say..."ahh...that sounds welsh...ya??" Quite cool when i can proudly
answer "yes, actually" and then continue on about my Grandpa Morgan from Pontardulias. Because so much has been going on i will be concise about the
latest events. (or try anyway...) After my wonderful day of tea with
the locals...(picture included in the blog)...i went to catch up with
Mel, Dan and Romina for a pint at a pub called the Shakespeare (how
appropriate) where Mel, Romina and i all realized that the beer here
is quite strong (especially with no dinner for myself) and we were
quite a happy folk walking home that eve. I then took them to the
hostel to prove i was not living in a dingy alley or rat-infested
hostel hole, and shared the leftover food the ladies insisted i take
from our tea-time...yummy scones for all! All around fun day.The next day our itinerary started with the new HARRY POTTER movie!
Yes...we had to see it here...second day of release! I wore my
Gryfindor tie like a dorky kid...i looked about 14 years old with that
thing on. We then trekked to Soho for a veggie lunch that was
amazing!! i was incredibly happy as you might imagine. yummm. We
hopped on the tube to try and get a tour of the Tower of London only
to arrive about 2 minutes late. Ahh well...the outside looked pretty
sweet anyway. The rest of my eve was filled with an interesting time
with none other than the Ambassador to Honduras. hahaha...oh...i am
completely serious. And I might as well tell you that the next night
Romina and I were also treated to a free nights sleep at his "posh"
apartment. Explanation needed: Romina is from Honduras and her sister
is friends (grew up with) Ivan...the Ambassador. so...of course he
wanted to take us out and treat us. No argument here! We all met up
with him...and he's like...great...drinks, dinner, everything on me!
So i'm thinkin this guy is gonna show us around the sweet secret spots
of London...then the next words were..."Planet Hollywood ok??!""
Yeeea.....i came 5,000 miles to eat at a planet hollywood...but what
could i say. it's like his favorite place to go. the last thing i
wanted to do was step foot inside a planet hollywood, no less visit
the gift shop...where as you might guess i did in fact get pulled
into. Ivan, the generous chap that he is, would not let ROmina or I
leave without getting something. So i finally reluctantly picked out a
shirt to add to my t-shirt collection that needs to do anything but
grow. Then when we leave the store...he says "oh...check your bag...i
got you something else...surprise!" it's another t-shirt!! apparently
because of my reluctance he thought it'd be funny to get me ANOTHER
shirt! i mean...the nicest guy...but again...the last thing i needed
was another piece of fabric to stuff into my backpack suitcase that
practically topples over, half crushing my body as i try to hike
across the city. But i suppose it made me face the fact that there are
indeed plenty of Londoners who quite enjoy this planet hollywood. it
was not packed with tourists...but in fact, many kids celebrating
their birthdays (apparently it is a london birthday hot-spot). i must
leave my own preconceived judgments about what american restaurants
mean to locals...it was an anthropological learning experience one
might say...haha. interesting as it was. Romina and i slept in the next day (ahh...floor sleeping is good)
and consequently could not find Mel the entire day! Oh how much we
rely on cell phones today... Romina and I had quite the fun though.
Wish i could include all the funny stories but they'll have to wait
until i see ya in person...just won't be the same otherwise. But some
tidbits of the day included the amazing British Museum which one could
literally spend years investigating and studying its incredible
collection. Brother Aquinas would be proud. Really made me want to
continue in school, never stop learning, never stop exploring... We
then headed to the Globe Theater (but unable to get a tour) we happily
looked around at the pictures of Shakespeare's theater (even though
it's been rebuilt it stil counts!) and snapped a couple of pictures.
Wish we could have seen a show there, but hey at least we saw it...i
feel a little better about myself as a theatre person...heh. Right
next to the Globe was the Tate Modern art museum where Romina and I
tried desperately to stay on our weary feet for more artsy stimulus in
an already incredibly enlightening day. We did of course, and saw an
amazing exhibit of a huge collection and special exhibit of Dali's
work. Pretty awesome. After asking a local we found a little Indian restuarant on the back-alleys of Soho that was incredible, especially after a long day. We ate way too much food and felt fully cleansed of planet hollywood. We walked out smelling of spices....my body and brain were both exhausted, my stomach full of tastey food...great day.
Next day Romina and I awoke in the Ambassador's home...ahhh yes.
haha. He took us to the Natural History Museum for a quick look before
we headed off to meet Mel and bus-out to Cardiff. We had trouble
rousing, but were happy when we arrived to giant dinosaur skeletons
and a Darwin exhibit in the museum. Sweeeeeet. The bus ride was quite
eventful...and by this i mean...SLEEP counts as eventful. Lovely. We
arrived to green and red dragons, oddly named streets, with the
letters d, w, and y abound (and often next to each other at that). I
couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Though the sky was gloomy i guess
it felt a little like home.
