London Pride

A large part of the British culture is making the trek out to the local Pub to grab a pint. Many of the best beers that are served at the pubs are made at local breweries, and usually the breweries only serve a selection of pubs close by to where the beer is produced. Although we are long past the days where beer is carried to local pubs by horse and buggy, the tradition of having select breweries serve nearby pubs is still alive. One of the best locally brewed beers, according to Londoners is London Pride brewed by Fullers (who also claim that the best place to drink beer is in London; this is mainly because freshly brewed beers is brought to the pubs, and then served fresh for  a few days before it is quickly turned over to another fresh batch of beer). A little over a week ago I was able to go on a tour of the Fuller's Brewery. For the most part the tour was fairly uneventful. The tour consisted of a Fuller's employee and beer aficionado explaining the process of making beer and walking us around to the various machines that ground the hops, add the barley, and tend to the brewing beer. We were also given the opportunity to taste some of the other beers that are brewed at Fullers. In my opinion, the London Pride beer was the best beer, but some of the other beers that we tasted include ESB, Discovery Blonde Beer, and Gales Seafares Ale, among others. Here is the beer server, and serving station where were tested them...







And here is the full lineup of their beer selection:

And here are pictures of the various beers that we were able to test...

 

 

Fuller's beer is a local favorite among Londoners, and is also shipped to the U.S., so if you ever get a chance to try some London Pride, it is definitely worth a try. I will post pictures from the tour that I went on soon...I just have not had a chance to upload them to my computer yet... so long from London... for now.

ps: just in case you were wondering, the beer samples only were small sips of beer, no need to worry

Just a Few Really Old Rocks... Maybe You Have Heard of Them?

So what if it was build sometime between 2400 and 2200 BC, requiring three stages of construction? Who cares that we don't know how the ancient peoples built it? Why should I have gone to see something that we don't fully understand the purpose of it? What am I going to get out of it, other than being able to say that I've been to Stonehenge? Well aside from the fact that it is so old, the construction so complex, and its meaning still a mystery, which in my opinion are all reasons to go see the ancient stone monument, it is one of the coolest things that I have EVER seen! The only thing that I can really compare it to is the Colosseum in Rome, which was incredible. 

Stonehenge now is different that what it was 15 or 20 years ago. Now it is roped off, and you must walk around the stones in a circle, and you can not get closer than 5 ft away from the stones. This is due to vandalism over the years. There is also a highway that drives right past where Stonehenge is, that is probably 300 yards away, and that definitely takes away from the atmosphere of Stonehenge because it is an instant reminder of the modern world that we live in, and it distracted me from appreciating the magnificent feat... 

A view from the back of Stonehenge

This is the headstone for Stonehenge

A view down the center of Stonehenge with the headstone in the background

A closeup of the previous picture

A view from the side into the center of the stone circle

This is the vest view of Stonehenge. Notice, the three hendges in the center, and the joint rock on the left near stone. Instances of their technical genius

There are many theories for who and why Stonehenge was built. One reasonable theory for the builders of Stonehenge are the Druids, but  recent archaeological finds have dated the Druid's well past the construction time frame. Other theories, although they are not given substantial credence scientifically, are Aliens and Merlin, King Arthur's friend and wizard. The two most accepted reasons for why Stonehenge was built was for religious purposes, or as a calendar, although it is very difficult to prove either of these theories. There have been discoveries of burials at and around Stonehenge with lends proof to the theory that Stonehenge was built for religious reasons. One can never really know the true purpose of Stonehenge, but it is definitely something worth seeing!

Greenwich (Across the Pond)

About a week ago, I took a bus tour to Greenwich, England. It is a quaint English town just up the Thames River, the river that flows through London. It was about one week into my stay in London, and we drove through downtown London, past BIG Ben, the House of Parliament, and down the central streets of Westminster. This was the first time that I had seen Big Ben and the House of Parliament. I know you must be asking what I had been doing in London for a whole week without having seen these national landmarks, but there was a lot to get set up, before I could go exploring. After a short bus ride to Greenwich, we were let off the bus and looked across the river at one of the Queen's state houses. 

There are a few main attractions in Greenwich that made this an exciting Visit. The first is that there is a national observatory from the 18th Century. The reason for the observatory's construction in this town is because it lies directly on the Prime Meridian. The prime meridian is so special because it is there that each new day and year begins.  Naturally, I had to get a picture of myself standing in two hemispheres...

Here are my roommates, Brad and Blake, and I standing the at the Prime Meridian.

After seeing the Prime Meridian, we went inside to check out the observatory. This is the Royal observatory of London, commissioned by Charles II, with astronomers such as John Flamsteed as notable astronomers who have done their research there. At the time of its construction, and to this day, it houses the largest refracting telescope in the U.K.

 

In addition to the observatory, part of the astronomical research that was done at the Royal Observatory was discovering how to build an accurate time keeper that would be effective on ships. At the time, pendulum watches and clocks were used exclusively, which are very accurate, but on ships they do not work as well. This is because on the rocking of the ships back and forth throws off the pendulum, and thus the watch is off, and captains will have difficulty charting their positions without accurate time, unless they have access to a sextant. Eventually, it was discovered how to properly build a watch for sea captains to travel with, that would keep accurate time. After this was done, the observatory built a metal pole, with a red ball that would ascend to the top of the pole at 1pm everyday so that ship captains could accurately set their watches before sailing down the Thames River to the Atlantic Ocean.

Greenwich also is the proud owner of the self proclaimed, oldest shop in the world...

 

Greenwich was a lot of fun, but it has not been the best trip that I have been on. I think that distinction belongs to Stonehenge...

Food

The scariest part of growing up isn't having responsibility or having to get a job. Its not long hours spend in the library...or the pub depending on what country you are in. Its having to cook your own meal every night when you are tired after a long day. Its rather intimidating to be honest, but after a week or so of having this responsibility i'm getting better at that. Here are some of the foods that i have cooked thus far.

This first meal is sauteed chicken on a pan with honey lemon pepper sauce, sauteed peppers and onions and pasta with tomato sauce. Yes my mom would be proud.










Here is the chicken being cooked more...
















The final masterpiece!

This was the first meal that I cooked in London.










And here is the second meal that I cooked! Teriyaki stir fry.

And the Finished product! It was good. I was impressed with myself.












And here is one of the things that Hayley cooked.

Beef stroganoff! It was amazing.

And here is the complete meal. Hayley has also cooked delicacies such as porcupine meatballs and Chicken Parmesan. So for all of you who were worried that I wouldn't be eating well... well I have surprised myself.








Stay tuned for my upcoming blog posts on Stonehenge and Salisbury, Greenwich, the Westminister section of town, and Henry IV parts I and II at the globe theater.

My First Week

So I've already been in London for one week and everything I've done is starting to blur together. I reckon I should start documenting everything online now...here goes nothing.

We landed in London on August 31st and we quickly ushered into coaches (apparently all buses in London are coaches) and driven to our hotel. The hotel we stayed in was off one of the major streets in London, Oxford St. We spent much of the first day just going around and checking out the city we would be living in for the next 3 and a half months.

We ended up spending a few days in the hotel, but my roommates and I were out looking for a flat on the second day. Here are some pictures of where we are living...

 Here is our spacious living room with leather couches...

Here is our fully furnished kitchen...

And here is the man cave.












There will be more updates on my first week to come...