Britain at War Museum.

Here are the chairs that contributed to the idea that we were in a WWII Bunker.



On Sunday, Amanda and I went to the Britain at War Museum. It was an old WWII bunker. The museum was mainly of mannequins in 40s garb during 40s activities like drinking at the bar and sleeping on bunk beds. :)
While we walked through there was something on the overhead that said air raid and there was some shaking. There were tons of posters about the war (Loose lips sink ships) and of movie stars from that era (i.e. Fred Astire). There was one part of the museum that really tugged on my heartstrings and that was these mannequin children with tags saying who they were, waiting for the train to come and evacuate them. It reminded me of Chronicles of Narnia.

And we got to hear Winston Churchill on the radio.

Bring Them to the Tower

Where Anne Boleyn lost her head.
The girls and I in front of the guard
The ravens - Legend says that the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the ravens ever leave the fortress. So they keep six and a spare and have their wings clipped so they can never leave.



Trying to be like the costumed people.


The E&R Bear and I.

Tower of London – The ladies and I woke up early and headed to the Tower first thing in the morning. We went to Starbucks and indulged in coffee and breakfast and off the Towers we went. It was raining in the morning so there were no beefeater tours so we used audio guides. I got to see the Crown Jewels! And there were no lines! We were there from 900 until about 4 in the afternoon. While we did the Crown jewel tour, one of the guards started hitting on my friend, Amanda. But he told hilarious and interesting stories. For example, he was a guard of the Queen and there was a kid from Germany on a trip with his school. He got out a water gun and shot the guard. So the guard gave the kid a little hit with his gun. He was also a guard during the fires of Westminster. The guard also told us about how there is only one jeweler for the royal family and there are less than a handful of people who know how to get the jewel out of the cages.

Wicked

Outside the Theater


The stage before the production began



Amanda, Kenya and me on the Tube. We are on our way to Oz. We dressed in a blue and black theme. Hehehehe!


Wicked was fanastic! The theater was a tad on the warm side. The costumes looked the same as the costumes in the Minneapolis show. But the speaking accents were different. They were English and I think that the Munchkin was Irish or perhaps (I cannot tell the difference in their accents I just know that it sounds different than people from Britain).

Italia - Pisa

the view looking up at the Tower of Pisa.


Some fountain that Galleo drank from near the Tower of Pisa.


Here is me holding up the Tower. I was told to do this pose by the person I was traveling with. It apparently is the famous pose at the Tower of Pisa.


Pisa is a beautiful area. The tower is located in a small courtyard with two other buildings. I choose to not walk up the Tower of Pisa for several reasons: it was 95+ degrees, there are narrow staircases going up, the Tower is leaning therefore defying gravity and I refuse to go down with it when gravity has decided to act. Oh and it a little on the expensive side. But it was fun to go to.

Org day

Me and my dad at the org day in our traditional Bavarian grab (mine = dirndl). I was serving beer at the Org Day.

Italia - Firenze

Vanessa and me on the famous bridge in Florence with all the shops on it.



The David, yep you are not supposed to take pictures inside the museum but I am a rebel. This sculpture was so incredibly amazing. Pictures do not do it justice by any means of the imagination. It is truly breathtaking. You could see all the details of his veins and such. Wowser!



This is the view of my hotel. There was a bar on the same floor. Dangerous.


I loved Florence. It may have been the perfect storm of awesome. Reasons why I love Florence:
1. Food - Italian food is good
2. Gelato - Amazing
3. Italian wine - Need I say more
4. Hearing the Italian language - it is beautiful sounding especially after months of hearing German for severals months
5. Italian people - much more laidback and friendly than the people in Hessen

World Cup - German Style

At the Wiesbaden soccer stadium watching Germany lose to Spain. :(

My mom, Cami, Frank, Brian, my dad, Tom and me. Decked in our German decor except for Frank who choose to only wear the flag tattoos on his face.

Getting painted up to blend in with the natives.

Brian and my mom. Oh and he is using beer to put the temporary tattoo on her face. :)

Celebration on the main street in downtown Wiesbaden after Germany beat England.

These are some random Germans. With their flag.

The Deutschlander cocktail... .Yep not a cocktail a shot. The ad was misleading but the shot was pretty tasty. On this day, it was over 95 degrees as you can see by my red, sweaty face.

I love soccer and so do must Germans. Especially when they are winning. It was awesome to be here when the World Cup was being played. Although there was an eerie silence in the streets when the German team would lose. However, when they won there were celebration on the streets into the wee small hours of the morning.