DAS GERMAN CHOCK-OH-LATT!!

yeah yeah yeah, the dublin post is still in the works. i just wanted to tell you all, before i continue writing my essay (haha) about yet another food experience.

i had thought that cadbury was unbeatable...that the brits had done it again, and undoubtedly held the title of world's best chocolate makers.

not. even. close.

ritter chocolate, a german-made delight, found its way into my room yesterday afternoon. i tried the "butter biscuit" variety, which was a chocolate bar with shortbread on the inside, enfolded in the tastiest chocolate cream imaginable. i snarfed it.

there are other flavors, as well, so of course today i had to try another one. this time i opted for the "cappuccino cream," which was absolutely heavenly. milk chocolate around the softest, most luscious, most delicately flavored coffee filling. it was...incredible.

i cannot believe i have waited this long to try ritter. i cannot BELIEVE i have wasted most of my life with hershey's. but most of all, i CANNOT believe that no one else has noticed how catastrophically bad american chocolate is compared with what the rest of the world has to offer. we need a change, people! barack, i'm counting on you for this one.

and yes, dont worry, i'm bringing bars of it home for everyone (although i think they sell some varities in trader joe's! but not all the flavors...). we're going to pig out royally upon my return. you know, since i'm not doing that already.

sweetly,
lilly

JACK. THE. RIIIIIPPPPAAAA!!!!

so, once again, i have to apologize for my lackadaisical blogging (or blobbing, if you will). so much has happened in the past two week that i felt entirely overwhelmed thinking about how i could relate it all to my voracious readers. however, i've (finally) decided to update, in two segments. this past weekend i was in dublin, which definitely deserves a post of its own, so look forward to that. in the meantime, this is some of the other stuff i've been up to...

last week, krizcat decided to accompany me to the lovely city of westminster, home to the houses of parliament, big ben, westminster abbey, and buckingham palace. he loves making me feel stupid, so when we got off the tube and entered westminster, he decided to ask me what the building in front of us was. i fleetingly glimpsed some arches and glass, so blurted out, "the abbey!" well, it was actually the houses of parliament, but good guess. hahahaha. anyways, toursity pictures below!

fight on!

one of these days i'll ride the eye of london! for now i'm just a poser.

lots of war memorials in westminster. here's chris by one!

i saw the golden eagle from far away and didn't realize it was another war memorial, i just thought it was a sculpture. i exclaimed, "I WANNA TAKE A PICTURE OF ME FLAPPING UNDER THE EAGLE!" and chris berated me for a few minutes about disrespecting his country. oooooops

ministry of defense. a bit ominous, isn't it?

i can't remember who this guy is. i asked chris to explain every sculpture and monument we passed, and he turned out to be useless. so enjoy this meaningless picture.

yet another cool building

so we went into st. james's park (the queen's park), and upon seeing the fattest pigeon imaginable, chris dubbed it "lilly". what a gentleman!

the duck looks headless, which i personally find hilarious and amazing. we had to double back so i could take a picture!

guards! it was fabulous, the guard band not only played the theme song from "pirates of the caribbean," but also "eleanor rigby"! i like that they're not too stuffy.

chris wishing his beloved queen the best, i'm sure

changing of hte guards, and music playing! it was very cool, there were women guards! yay equality!

buckingham gates, and fuzzy-headed tourist

chris falsely told me that this was "traitor's gate," and that it was an act of treason to take a picture of it. i took one anyways, because he's full of it.

mark my words...one day, i'll be queen.

and as if that wasn't enough sight-seeing and excitment for one day, that night a group of friends and i went on a jack the ripper tour of london. i didn't know exactly what to expect, but the tour certainly didn't disappoint. for those of you don't know, the jack-the-ripper, or "whitechapel" murders took place not very far from my school. in fact, as we walked to the places where his victims drank, whored, lived, and died, we ended up in our precious brick lane, where we frequently go to get delicious bagels!! now we'll never look at brick lane the same way...

anywho, the tour was really interesting and fun...except at one point, towards the end, when the guide decided it would be hilarious to lunge at me (WHY ME) and scream. i'm a bit of a nancy, so of course i instinctively let out a yelp and cowered behind my hands, much to the group's amusement. har har har. later, alex experienced a similar embarrassment when the guide warned us to look out for rats among the garbage heaps we were walking through. chris thought it was a good idea to bend down and tickle her ankles, causing her to leap in the air and wail. why are men such tormentors?

as for the pictures...

the church with a very high steeple, which would have been a point of reference for all of those living in whitechapel. they would have passed by it (or at least seen it) every day. that includes JACK. THE. RRRRIIIPPPAAAA!! it is quite a forbidding looking church, though, isn't it??

after the tour, we went to a pub called "the white heart," which one of the victims frequented a century ago. judging by my friends' faces, this didn't bother them at all.

and indeed, as this picture shows (click on it to read the writing), one of the bodies was found right outside the pub! creeeeeepy

so, in closing, the week was highlighted by the city of westminster and the city of SINISTER!! oooo rhyming! but anyways, now i have to endeavor on my dublin update, which will be ages longer than this one...look for it! and again, so sorry for the dearth of postings. that just means i'm having fun!


still saying JACK. THE. RRRRRIIIIPPPAAAA,
lilly

SNOW DAY SNOW DAY SNOW DAY!!!

first of all, i'm terribly sorry for the lack of postings lately. i've been caught up in school work, socializing, sight-seeing...and the snow! this past week was made incredible, due to the fact that it started snowing sunday afternoon...lightly at first, then more and more heavily. it snowed all night, leaving a gorgeous winter wonderland outside my window!

see?!?

sunday i got so excited to see the snow that i had to venture outside to play. i felt like a little kid, stomping around and throwing snowballs. it was so much fun! people think i'm a fool for being so enthralled--and perhaps i am--but i really do love the snow. tuesday our flat had a blast building an anatomically sound snow-woman, and had many a snowball fight whilst completing her.

me excitedly peeping out the window

but i know you all just want to hear the dirty dirt...aka the goss, the poop scoop, the juicy kernels! so here's a recap of the past week:

thursday: my virginia woolf class met at the senate house library, a famous london building. however, my cronies and i got lost on the way to the meeting place, so we had to join the rest of the class later (thus, no senate house picture. i'm sure there will be one in the future). our professor led us around london, to some of the places were woolf used to live, and the squares in which she used to walk. very cool!

very unflattering sculpture of virgy.

where the bloomsbury group met! sorry for the craptastic picture.

she lived on this street!

then, thursday night, some friends of friends were hosting a birthday party in a dorm across the way, so our flat hurried over to see if the rumours of a "special guest" were true. we socialized for the first hour or so, then "danny valentino" showed up. he was legit. it was the funniest, weirdest thing ever, made much more so by the fact that all of the guys at the party were really uncomfortable (yet secretly fascinated). facebook pictures are up, for those who are curious.

friday: sara, a friend from usc who's studying in sussex, came up to spend the night before our usc-sponsored-stongehenge-trip the next day. we joined my flatmates in going to brick lane (my third time!) to get bagels and pastries, which were quite delicious!

saturday was the stonehenge and salisbury trip. i got approximately 2 hours of sleep the night before, so i was slightly delirious on the bus ride there. on the way, our trusty tour guide was telling us the history of stonehenge--5,000 years old, took forever to build, wonder of the world, etc etc etc. i was expecting to see the BEST THING EVER CREATED.

....
well, it certainly looked just like the pictures. except way, way smaller.


psh, i could build that! jokes!

hengin it.

anyways, it was extremely cold at the henge, so after i took a few pictures (i haven't uploaded all of them, because i took way too many) i headed back to the heated bus. onward we went to salisbury, to see the town and cathedral! it was a gorgeous little town, with nice shopping and pubs that were over 400 years old.

swans!

our tour guide's head is at the bottom left. look at the cool buildlings!

the arch is from the middle ages, and divided the church area of town from the rest. apparently the priests were above the law, and acted accordingly, so everyone hated them. haha

medieval spire in the middle of the town

we passed all of these on the way to the separate chapel part of the cathedral, a short walk from the actual salisbury bad boy. check the pics...oh, by the way, the pictures are much bigger if you click on them, which i would recommend. they're exponentially better that way!

they didn't discover this mural until (i think?) the 1970s, our tour guide said. it had been whitewashed over, and they gently blotted off the whitewash to discover this awesome picture beneath. on the left side is heaven, and on the right side, hell, with whores and drunkards and moneylenders dropping in!

anyways, we then sojourned to the poppa cathedral. i've only put up a few photos, because i took wayyy too many (about 60). these are the choice ones.

some old school stained glass


new school stained glass (these were made in the 70s). the colors were amazing

the world's oldest clock!


i had to back away soooo far to get the whole cathedral. it was massive.



view from inside the cloister area

we also got to see an original copy of the magna carta (though we couldn't photograph it)! after, we went around trying to find a suitable pub for lunch. we finally settled on one, and i got my first plate of fish and chips. for some reason, i had expected the fish to be somewhat like chicken strips--fish fingers, if you will. instead it was a massive slab, to be eaten with a knife and fork (seriously, the knife and fork shenanigans...). although it wasn't what i expected, it was decent enough. i'm going to try some in dublin next week, to see which country's is better! bahaha

in short, this past week was fun and exciting, especially since we had two snow days! even better, yesterday was international nutella day, and i kept my promise of not buying any (chris bought some for me, haha). i gorged all day, and still have some left over!

but of course, all good things must come to an end. yesterday i contracted a rather nasty, goolicious case of pinkeye. on the upside, i'm going to purposefully infect my entire flat as revenge for the snow torture they put me through. but on the downside, i look like a monster.

if i look like a human again by sunday, i'll probably be making a pilgrimage to westminster abbey for a service and a gander. look forward to another update! apologies again for my slacking.

on that note, pip pip, i'm off to read and spread my delicious ooze (yeah, i tasted it, so what). JOKES!

with one eye open,
lilly